Honoring A Sacrifice
by Derlah
Summary: What if Iruka died the day Naruto stole the forbidden scroll? He finds that trust is not to be spared, and betrayal is to be expected. The life of a ninja isn't just being a hero of justice, and struggles await to challenge his morality. A world full of hatred and chaos, but he will take it all if it means he can save the ones he loves. (NaruIno, but not focused mainly on romance)
1. Chapter 1

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes.

Hope you guys like the story!

Chapter 1: To Protect What Is Precious

Iruka-sensei just announced the final test to everyone. Some of the students were shaking out of nervousness, some out of excitement. Some were too lazy to react upon the news, and some were making ruckus on one side of the room. This side of the room always gained most attention, since the calmest and the wildest person in the class were sitting next to each other. Sasuke on one hand was brooding over revenge, while trying to ignore the annoying fawning of Sakura and Ino, while Naruto was sweating buckets after hearing the topic for the final test. The topic considered to be the easiest in many years to be administered as graduation test in the academy, Bunshin(Clone) jutsu. But no matter how easy it was, Naruto could only see failure ahead of him, because every single attempt of his to create a bunshin in his life ended up with the creation of a deflated and mutilated form of the original body.

"Sasuke-Kun is going to be the best in this exam. And when he graduates I will be there with him in his team while you retake the class Ino-Pig." The pink-haired girl, Sakura was having the best day so far, considering she had perfected her Bunshin technique due to her low chakra reserves and high chakra control.

The fight didn't stay one-sided, since Ino managed to input her own cheeky remark to make herself proud, "Is that large forehead just for show-off? Because Sasuke-kun definitely seems annoyed at the thought of having you in the same team."

"Hn," that was the only answer they received from the brooding boy as they both stared at him for a good minute to receive his thoughts on the argument.

While the bickering continued, the room was brought to a silence as Iruka called Naruto into a different room for the test. Hinata in the back just kept twiddling her thumbs, too shy to wish her crush good luck, while on the other hand the rest of the class just ignored him. And being ignored wasn't exactly what the future Hokage liked the most, and this decided to gain attention from everyone in the easiest way he knew of, challenging the class idol Sasuke. "Oi Sasuke-teme, I am going to top this exam, don't end up failing cause I still need to beat your ass!"

Naruto had to reconsider whether the attention was worth the risk, especially after the two girls turned their red-glowing eyes towards him. "NA- RU- TO!" The girls spoke in unison, since their idol was being disrespected in front of them.

"You are never going to beat Sasuke-Kun"

"You are the dead last Naruto."

"You are going to fail the test first Naruto." At times like this, Sakura and Ino could even be called the best teammates since even their insults were in synch, as if their admiration for Sasuke-kun intertwined their souls

Naruto, who had his ears covered to save his eardrums from bursting, spoke up, "I will definitely pass it, Dattebayo-" His sentence was cut off since Iruka-sensei just had enough and decided to pull him by his ears to the testing room.

"That hurt Iruka-sensei!"

"What the girls were saying back there would hurt your brains more."

"You are right in fact, first time you said something intelligent."

"You know I am the one proctoring your test, don't you? That means that I Am Grading." Iruka said the last few words to hint the threat, which Naruto completely understood.

"I know you are grading it Iruka-sensei, because you are the coolest chunin ever, right?

"Now that's a lot better Naruto." Iruka said with a satisfied smile, which soon turned into a stoic expression, which meant business. "Naruto, for the test make a bunshin."

Naruto crossed his fingers, literally, into a hand sign and yelled out bunshin-jutsu while streaming chakra all around his body to create the Bunshin.

1 hour later

Naruto was sitting still on the swing by the tree. Another year, another failure. Another year of being laughed at. He watched as the other academy students were standing with their families, jumping in joy, holding their Leaf Headband with pride. Even during their pompous celebrations, they didn't miss out on insulting the blonde boy's failure in his ninja career so far. Some made fun of his skills, while others celebrated the fact that the family less boy was suffering by himself, saying he deserved it. He deserved it? What had he done to deserve such? He tries harder than anyone in his class, and he still can not do the Bunshin Jutsu. Was it his pranks that made them hate him? But he hadn't even started doing pranks when he was 5-6 years old, so why did they hate him back then? He just wanted a bit of attention, was it too much to ask? Sasuke didn't even want any attention and every girl would be fawning over him, villagers respecting him as if he was the future Hokage, while Naruto did all he could to only be ignored or hated. The world was truly unfair. His ambition of becoming the Hokage to gain acknowledgement from his people delayed another year. He knew he messed up the moment he yelled Bunshin Jutsu in the testing room. Instead of the mirror image of himself that he was supposed to see in the creation, he just saw a imitation of his body which had been malnourished for years after the soul of the body escaped. The "You Fail" statement was nothing unexpected after that turn, but what was unexpected however was Iruka's stubbornness in not passing Naruto and also Mizuki sensei pleas to pass Naruto. Even though Naruto was really sad at failing the test, Mizuki sensei's show of concern for him really made him happy. No matter how dumb he looked, he had matured ages ahead of others in many aspect. When one lives without anyone to care for them, they need to care for themselves. However his maturity came to no use when he gains something as valuable as care and concern. Not too many people cared for him, even his biggest fear is that there would be no one to cry for him if he dies one day, no one to remember him, he would become a nameless death in history. But seeing someone show concern over him takes away any sense of logic in his mind. He didn't care whether Mizuki sensei was the same person that always insulted him in classes, or never taught him jutsus during practices, all he cared about Mizuki was that he stood up for him, and that was all he could ask from anyone.

While he was thinking about the crappy day he was having, and how Sasuke might be boasting about his headband right now, he was brought out of his thoughts by someone tapping on his shoulders. "Naruto, what are you doing by yourself?"

"Oh, Mizuki-sensei, it's you. Nothing, just sitting by myself, looking at all of the others graduating and celebrating." The bitterness in his voice was clear. Naruto wasn't the type to complain about anything with pure hatred, because he would complain mostly out of annoyance or for fun. But now, it wasn't like those times when he would complain about being tied to a pole for painting the Hokage's face. He was really upset.

"Why don't we sit down in an nice and open space? Would be better than sitting in this bush, right?"

Naruto merely nodded and followed him to the top of a building. After a few minutes of soothing silence, Mizuki-sensei spoke up, "You know, Iruka-sensei is tough, but he is not against you."

"But why? Why only me?"

"He wants you to be strong , really strong. The ninja world is really dangerous, and a ninja can never leave for a mission knowing they will come back alive. Becoming a ninja means you take all the responsibility and risk upon yourself. And to go unprepared is nothing less than suicide."

Naruto looked surprised, he never thought about it, but it does make sense. "But still, I really wanted to pass this year, I don't want to get left back again."

"You know you could still pass."

Naruto rubbed his ears for a while and then spoke up, "It's funny, because I thought I heard you saying I could still pass."

"You heard it right, you could still pass."

Naruto's eyes came back to life, jumping up from the ground he began hyperventilating in excitement as he spoke up, "Really? You mean it? Why didn't anyone tell me? Wait, how can I pass?"

Mizuki-sensei gave out a small laugh ,"Slow down, slow down. Well no one told you this because you are only allowed to take this extra test once, if you fail you can never become a ninja again. Do you still want to take it? I mean you could wait a year you know."

"I will take it today! I will pass it and become a ninja, Dattebayo!"

"Alright, then let me tell you the rules for the test."

Nearly 4 in the morning:

"Ahh, I finally got it. I managed to make the clone. The hour's up, and I learned one Jutsu, I guess that should be enough for graduation." Naruto stopped talking to himself as he heard the bushes rattling, and he took out his kunai. Then he saw the figure approach, distress visible in his face. "Oh it's just you Iruka sensei. Why do you look like you saw a ghost sensei?"

"That doesn't matter, but what are you doing here!"

"Oh I just finished learning 1 jutsu from this scroll so far. That should be enough to graduate right?"

"What do you mean Naruto?" Iruka could see from Naruto's face that he wasn't lying. He knew Naruto and caught him too many times during his pranks to know when he was lying, and certainly now Naruto wasn't lying.

"I had to learn a jutsu from the scroll to graduate, isn't that the secret exam?" Naruto was dearly praying that Iruka was just pretending to not know it, because he worked really hard to get that jutsu down. But the look on Iruka's face was starting to worry him a lot more now.

"Who told you that?"

Before Naruto could answer, the young chunin with white hair landed on a tree nearby. Iruka pushed Naruto away as several shurikens hit the spot where Naruto was moments ago. "I did" was the answer that came from the man.

"What's going on Mizuki sensei? Those pointy things are dangerous you know, I almost didn't notice your presence!"

"Naruto, Mizuki was using you to steal that scroll. Don't let that scroll fall into his hands, it could destroy the whole village."

"Naruto, you trust me don't you? Iruka stop lying to him!"

"Naruto, don't trust him he is lying!"

Between the two sides, Naruto didn't know what to do, who to trust, but then he heard Mizuki laughing, laughing like a maniac.

"You say I am lying, what about the whole village? The whole village has been lying to him, since his birth."

Iruka's eyes widened, as he knew exactly what Mizuki was talking about. "MIZUKI NO, that's a FORBIDDEN SECRET!"

Naruto couldn't but take the bait of wanting to listen to Mizuki as he started speaking, "You know why everyone hates you, ignores you?"

"Naruto, don't listen to him, he is lying!"

To Iruka's distress Naruto replied, "Why Mizuki- sen - sei?"

"Because the Nine-Tailed Beast is sealed inside of you. The thing that killed hundreds of people in this village is sealed inside of you, your existence brings them fear, trauma from the past. You know why Iruka doesn't pass you? Because his parents were killed by the Nine-Tailed Beast. But you can come with me, and destroy this village that made you suffer so much, for so long." Naruto and Iruka didn't say a single word during the whole time, Iruka sat there feeling bad for Naruto, while Naruto was shaking in anger, sadness and emotions he couldn't explain himself.

"I don't care about that, I wanted to be the Hokage of the village, not destroy it!"

"Well then I guess I will just have to take you by force." He crouched down on the branch to throw a windmill shuriken at Naruto.

Iruka was fast enough to push out of the way and catch the shuriken by the hole in the middle due to the huge size, but then to his dismay two other shurikens came flying from two opposite sides. Iruka yelled at Naruto to get down, which he did, dodging the first shuriken and then Iruka jumped in Naruto's way to catch the second shuriken. The second he took a breath to relax, he heard a *Puff* behind him and realized that the shuriken Naruto dodged was actually a henged ninja, who threw a barrage of Kunai at Naruto. There was no time to block or dodge. Naruto saw the Kunais coming his way, and having no way out, he closed his eyes out of fear. 'So this is how it ends huh?' His eyes were closed for a second or two, until he realized he didn't get hit, and relief washed over him. But right in front of him was Iruka, who shielded him from all the Kunais. "Naruto, *cough* run, right now."

As Naruto ran, Mizuki's men were about to go for Iruka, but Mizuki stopped them. "We have to get the scroll first, we don't care what happens to that dumbass, just get the Jinchuuriki and the scroll safely."

Naruto didn't look back. He ran and ran, climbed up the trees, jumping from branch to branch as fast he could until he heard a noise approaching him. He quickly dropped down to the ground to hide behind a tree. What he saw running above him was a henge of himself, and following him was Iruka. He knew Iruka was running into a trap at that time, so he was about to shout out, but it was too late. The Henge of Naruto stabbed a knife into Iruka's back.

"How did you know I wasn't the real Iruka?" The Iruka standing in the opening called out to the henge of Naruto. The real Naruto was now confused as hell as to what was going on, but he received his answer soon, as he heard two puffs.

The smoke cleared and Iruka was revealed to be Mizuki. The Henge of Naruto from the smoke spoke up, "I know you aren't Iruka because I am the real Iruka!" Iruka was sitting down on the ground with countless stab wounds on his back from before.

"Why are you trying to protect that beast? You know he is no different from that 9 tailed beast, just give him time and he will show his true nature as a beast."

"You are wrong, he isn't a beast and he will never be. He is just like me. He just wants a little attention, show of affection and caring from everyone. I always wanted to have someone to look up to after my parents died, and for him I will be that person he looks up to."

"You know I wanted to spare you, but you are getting on my nerves. Katashi, Kazuko! We could get the demon brat later, first kill this guy, he's just a nuisance."

Two other ninjas from before dropped down to the ground, and took out their kunais. "Why are you doing this Mizuki? You still have time to go back."  
"I don't want to go back to that place. Ever since my parents died in the Kyuubi's attack no one cared for me. But now they will, when I take the scroll to Orochimaru-sama, he will give me power. Power brings wealth, and wealth brings everything. He will give me whatever I want, and as for the demon brat, I think Orochimaru-sama would appreciate a jinchuuriki as a gift, for his experiments that is."

The metals collided, sparks flying all over, as the three engaged in combat. "Naruto isn't a tool to be gifted to someone." Iruka ducked underneath a slash by Katashi, as Kazuko landed a kick on the crouched body of Iruka.

"All ninjas are tools, I am a tool, you are a tool, our parents were tools, and that demon brat is also a tool, nothing more." Iruka's body that was rolling towards Mizuki after receiving the kick, suddenly jumped up right in front of Mizuki. Mizuki took out his kunai and threw it at Iruka, as did the others from the back. Iruka's hand reached inches close to Mizuki's face when he was hit by all three Kunais at once. *Puff* Instead of seeing blood dripping, he saw the three Kunais splitting one windmill shuriken from three directions. Mizuki's eyes widened at this, 'Dammit Iruka, Kawarimi.' The only one in the forest at the moment carrying a windmill shuriken was Mizuki, so Iruka must have switched with that . Mizuki faced behind to look at where the Windmill Shuriken was before. Out of sheer instinct he tried to pull his head back to avoid the blade that was closing in on his face, only to realize it was too late. Only if he hadn't underestimated Iruka, he wouldn't have had to get his face sliced in half. He closed his eyes for a blink, but instead of having his face split open, only the top of his right eye was spliced, blood making his vision red.

Iruka missed the best chance to kill off Mizuki. His strategy was almost flawless. Pretty ironic that he was proud of the strategy in the fight that he was quite certain he would die in. His body had already given up, he couldn't extend his hands to slice Mizuki's face due to the stab wounds on his back. There was no way he could survive this attack. His mind began to run in circles, vision becoming dizzy. 'What am I doing again?' He tried hard to look through his eyes to see Mizuki holding his eyes in pain while Katashi and Kazuto were racing towards him with weapons ready. 'Oh, I came to save Naruto. I didn't even feel him moving in the least few minutes, he must still be in one place to avoid being detected. He is one tough bastard to find.' He let out a chuckle, thinking about all the times when he had to find him after his pranks. Time seemed to slow down a lot, the two ninjas slowly moving in closer to Iruka even though they were running. 'This is so uncool of me, getting beaten by these people. I gotta give him one good show at least.' The smirk on Iruka's face almost imitated that of Naruto's smirk after setting up the plans for his pranks. He learned a lot about strategies just by watching Naruto pranking everyone in the village. He had enough chakra for a few henges. The plan for his last show was set already. He took the Kunais in his hands, and Shurikens along with it.

" _Live your life do that you'll have no regrets. No matter how hard, no matter how sad, if something is precious to you, protect it with both arms."_

Everyone saw Iruka get up within fractions of a second. Iruka threw the shurikens at the two ninjas, while the two Kunais slipped and fell out of his hands. The two ninjas dodged the shurikens and aimed for his body, and once again another *puff* and the shuriken they just dodged changed into Iruka who kicked one of them round in the face. Iruka yelled at the top of his lungs, " Naruto ran away with the scroll Now!"

The other ninja who was still stating started to take a step towards the direction in which Naruto was hiding.

Iruka just smiled and formed a snake seal, "Boom." There were two *puff* noises and the two Kunais Iruka dropped earlier by 'accident' changed back into explosive tagged Kunais, which then blew up into a brilliant explosion, spraying all the dirt in the ground up in the atmosphere, making it impossible for them to track Naruto anymore. " Mission Successful."

With Naruto

He had been hiding behind the tree for minutes that seemed to be like hours. He didn't make a single noise because he realized that he could be discovered really easily even with a little bit of noise. But what he heard while hiding was worth the wait. Hearing Iruka-sensei defend him was something new to him, especially after being his prime subject for scolding the past year. And now to be honest he started looking up to Iruka as his role model. But he was getting more and more restless, setting Iruka being knocked around wasn't what he could enjoy the most. And then all of a sudden he yelled out to him to run. Naruto didn't hesitate to trust his new found role model. He got out of his hiding place to see one of the ninjas heading his way. He was about to panic, but then he saw the falling body of Iruka, a smile on his face as he said the word Boom. The explosion gathered all the dust on the ground and spread it into the air to block the ninjas from seeing Naruto's escape route. 'Iruka-sensei was so uncool before, and now he makes badass explosions infront of me without even looking at the explosions going off.' This isn't exactly what a person running for his life should be thinking of, but this was Naruto, the most unpredictable Konoha resident.

Naruto kept running to route in the forest that led into the village, and he looked at the explosion one more time. Katashi didn't make it alive out of the explosion, but the other one emerged twice as engaged as before. Mizuki was still struggling to patch up the eye that Iruka spilt open with his Kunai. Naruto told him to not look back, but for the first time in this battle he saw Iruka's back facing him, and the bloody mess that he was. He wouldn't make it out alive fighting those two. But Iruka sensei told him to keep going, and no matter what he would follow his word. He kept running again, not looking back.

With Iruka

Iruka's fear had reached its maximum when he saw Naruto looking back at him, and slowing down. But he felt a sense of relief seeing Naruto keep heading back to the village. 'Finally he listened to me once, still wish he had listened to me more often.' He brought his attention back to Kazuto who was heading in for the kill. Iruka didn't care about his own life at this point, all he needed was to stall for time for Naruto to make a safe escape back to the village. He tried his best to dodge, but his body simply couldn't take it anymore. The right side of his belly was slashed deeply, but without any weapons in his hand that was the best he could do. 'Well at least that was worth a try. Seems like this is where it ends. I wonder if Naruto thought I was cool. No, he must have, the explosion was really the best.' The ferocious Kunai strikes closing in on his heart and 'Bam.' Iruka's eyes popped open, now in fear, as he saw Naruto kick Kazuto in the face. "Naruto, what are you doing here! I told you to leave already, this isn't a fight you can win!"

"I'm done running, I can not just watch you getting beaten up for me. You still have to show me how to do that explosion, Dattebayo!" He saw Kazuto get up from the ground. "Oi, if you guys try to lay another hand on Iruka-sen-" . He couldn't finish as he heard a grunt from behind him. He turned back and there was Iruka. A giant windmill shuriken piercing his body from back to front. Blood gushing out from the entire area of the injury. Meanwhile Kazuto stabbed the kunai in Naruto's stomach.

"That felt so goood." Mizuki almost licked his own lips at the sight of Iruka dying, his pain of losing one eye long forgotten. The lifeless body fell to the floor with a loud thump, which was accompanied by another loud fit of laughter from Mizuki. But his laughter halted, as the air around him seemed more and more scarce. It took him all his strength in his body to keep himself from suffocating, but his legs gave up as he fell to the ground on his knees.

It was the same feeling of death from 12 years ago when his parents died, he looked up to see the boy shaking, hands formed into a fist so tight that his nails dug into his own hands to draw blood that dripped down to the ground. The stab wound on his belly burning steam and instantly healing the wound. A red shroud shroud of chakra covered the whole body of Naruto. His fingers elongated into claws, and his whisker marks on his cheeks darkened into thick lines. But the fear of death was extremely lessened when he formed the tiger seal with his hands. 'Good thing he didn't turn into the Kyuubi. His clone technique is the worst, he can not dream of beating us with tha-' His thought process stopped, as he saw the whole forest turn to orange, as far as his eyes went all he saw was orange. The real Naruto looked at Kazuto and Mizuki and said, "I Will Rip You To Shreds." That was all they heard before Kazuto who was closest to Naruto got a punch to the face. A small boy shouldn't be able to hit with a power of a bulldozer, but he did. First punch and his jaw broken, second punch from the back and his broken jaw hits the ground along with him, third kick and his ribs broken, a kick to the belly as another clone held him up and he felt his internals burst open, and it kept going, over and over again, until his bones were nothing more than dust, less blood left inside of his body as was on the knuckles and sandals of Narutos. But he would have been happy if that was all, because he never would have thought that the claws in Narutos' hands would be used to rip out his guts, shred his skin over and over until his bare muscles were exposed to the air. And Mizuki saw all this wide eyed. He saw his life flash before him, as he reached for his pocket, and a fist closed in on his face. The moment he placed his hands in pocket, he was sent flying with a broken jaw as he received on the other side by countless more Naruto's to break his bones. Bearing through the torture of flurry of punches and kicks in mere seconds, he pulled out a round pill from his pocket, a soldier pill. 'He might have the Kyuubi, but I am a chunin! I will kill him myself, if not now but sometime. I will take everything has like he took from me.' He saw a claw closing into his face, as he did a substitute jutsu to switch with a Naruto, which became decimated to a smoke after receiving the stab wound from the claw. Mizuki landed right next to the forbidden scroll. 'He is a failure afterall, there is no way he can match me in terms of jutsu.' He picked up the scroll and turned to run, but then was reminded why he was trapped in the forest in the first place, there were Naruto's all over the forest. Once again he had Narutos swarming all over him. But using the chakra from his soldier pill, he managed to fend off most of them by using his jutsus. He then realized there was no way for him to win. His soldier pill's chakra was running out, and after that he would be left with nothing but death. But what else could he do? There were thousands of Naruto, and there is no way he could destroy them all. If he could kill the real Naruto then maybe the clones would disappear too, but they were more than impossible to differentiate from one another. Wait, there was no way to differentiate one Naruto from the other, so if he became Naruto no one could find him in that swarm! He made the seals for the henge and he yelled out "Henge no Jutsu!" But the moment he was going through the transformation, the scroll on his back was pulled out by one of the Naruto's. He saw the scroll slipping out of his reach every instant. He would never get it if it gets out of his hands now. If he could not get the scroll, he would have to compromise with the least he could get. He pulled out his hand fast and holding the end of the paper of the scroll he ripped apart a portion of the scroll, and henged it to hide it in his sleeve. And the next moment he was gone. He became another Naruto in the swarm.

All the Narutos began panicking, screaming in fury, destroying each other to find Mizuki, but no results. Naruto dispelled all the clones. Had it not been the heavy influence of the Kyuubi at the moment he would have knocked out from the headache formed because of dispelling all the clones at the same time. He started scratching his head in anger, disappointment, and hatred. He started punching the trees to dust, howling in pain as his arms bled and healed itself, splinters splitting open his fists as the muscles knotted back into place instantly. "I couldn't save Iruka-sensei." He closed his eyes and started punching all around him. "I couldn't save the scroll from him. I am so useless." He was losing consciousness, as all he could see was red around. But then everything stopped, he was held by a strong pair of arms.

"Idiot, who told you that you were useless?"

"I couldn't save Iruka-sensei. I couldn't even do anything to stop that bastard Mizuki." Naruto replied without even opening his eyes to look at the man holding him.

"You mastered an A rank jutsu in an hour, you have the scroll right there, so what are you talking about? You did well. And guess what, I am standing right in front of you."

Naruto opened his eyes, and the tears in his eyes could tell how happy he was to see Iruka.

"Naruto, you know you could be a great ninja if you try. You should study more *cough*, and you know ninjas don't wear orange. And, let me think , ninjas should always eat proper food, and listen to their Hokage. And remember you are not a tool Naruto, you are the future Hokage, you can live your life however you want.-" He was stopped short in his speech as Naruto cut him off.

"Oi Iruka-sensei, I know you are saying this to help me out, but we could do that later. You still owe me ramen don't you?"

Iruka laughed a little, after all the things that happened that day Naruto could still remember his promise to feed him ramen. But it was a bit too late for that. "You know Naruto, I would loved to do that, *cough* *spits out blood* but your hand is halfway into my belly right now."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, as he finally realized what the warm feeling was that he felt in his hand. When he had no control over himself, Iruka hugged him and at the heat of the moment he stabbed Iruka with his bare claws which now had retreated to fingers as his anger was all drained. He took out his hand to hear a large grunt of pain from Iruka, as he saw blood quickly flowing out of the wound. Naruto immediately took off his orange jacket and wrapped it around his belly to stop the bleeding. "Ahh, I probably should have told you not to take your hand out I guess."

How Iruka managed to talk so normally with a falling hole in his stomach was being Naruto, but Naruto's hyperventilation was evidence that he was once again running through a bout of self guilt, and had no idea how to save his sensei. " Iruka sensei why didn't you tell me about that wound earlier!"

"Wouldn't have helped much even if I did."

"Whatever, hold on tight, and which way is the hospital?"

By now the noise of the anbus running around in a perimeter around the location was clear to both Naruto and Iruka. "There's no point of taking me to the hospital."

"I don't care, I'm taking you there, they will save you,I know it."

"Naruto if you run with me, I'll just bleed faster to death."

"Those Anbus there, they could help. They are good at all sorts of stuff aren't they? "

"They came here to make sure the Kyuubi doesn't escape, nothing more. They are afraid to even take a step in this place."

"There has to be a way, I know there has to be a way."

Iruka took Naruto's head in both of his hands and forced him to look straight in the eye. "Naruto, Listen to me for Once!" Seeing he had Naruto's attention he said, " Naruto I know you don't like it, but there's no way I can survive this. So please listen to me I'm begging you." Naruto just closed his eyes, trying his best to accept things as it is, to listen to teacher's lecture seriously die once. "That's better. Naruto you told me you want to be the Hokage, do you still want to be the Hokage?"

"Yes Iruka sensei."

"Good. So you know what a Hokage does?"

"The Hokage protects the village and its people." His voice was about to break down. All these months he hasn't answered a single question that Iruka asked him in class, and now he finally decides to answer his questions when he is dying.

"What qualities would allow you to protect others?"

"I would need to be strong."

"Remember that Naruto. Become stronger, and you will be able to protect those close to you. You have a scary mind you know, your traps caught me more often than real traps that were meant to kill. You should use your brain along with your strength. I know with your brain and hardwork you will become the Hokage someday."

"B- But you wouldn't even be there to see me become the Hokage, Iruka-sensei."

"Who told you Dummy? Close your eyes for a second." Naruto did as asked. Iruka slipped the headband from his head, and gently tied it around Naruto's forehead. He tucked away the stray locks of his hair behind the headband. "Now that you are a ninja, as long as you carry around this headband I will be there with you, to see you become the Hokage and the most amazing one." By now all the dams in Naruto's eyes opened as his face flooded with his tears, and he hugged Iruka tightly. Iruka didn't really mind it even though it was painful as hell. "Crying is so uncool you know."

"Iruka-sensei, you still owe me ramen you know." That was the last thing Naruto managed to say to him, as he heard no reply from him. The smile never faded from Iruka's face, even when he was dead. He wanted someone to care for him, look up to him ,ever since his parents died. He finally found the person who cared for him the most right before dying. On the other hand Naruto also wanted someone to care for him. But the man he thought cared for him the most betrayed him, and the man that cared for him the most died right in front his eyes.

He stayed in the same place hugging Iruka for close to half an hour until his tears dried up. He saw the Anbus closing in on the location. One of the Anbus picked up the scroll to see the scroll missing a portion from the end. Before they could ask him about what happened to it, Naruto answered, "Mizuki took the portion with the Re-Animation jutsu." Naruto had no idea how he knew it because he was all the way in the middle of the forest when Mizuki took it, but unknown to Naruto was that shadow clones could send information back to the original body.

Naruto saw another Anbu coming towards Iruka's body to pick it up, but the growl from Naruto made him take a step back. " Don't you dare touch him."

" You don't have the authority to order us." Anbu was a rank given to the elites in the village, whose minds were supposed to calmer than a monk. But when the person in question was Naruto,the Jinchuuriki, Anbus and civilians alike didn't stop from showing aggression.

"You don't have the right to touch him after you watched him die from a distance like a coward."

Civilian or not the Anbu didn't care, why was the Jinchuriki talking down to them especially after he owes them for all the damage the Kyuubi had done to the village. As the Anbu was about to take out his Kunai, when his hand was stopped halfway. "Yamato-san, you shouldn't stop me now, that brat just started by stealing the scroll. It is only a matter of time he does something bigger."

"I don't care about that. He was manipulated to do so, just like Mizuki manipulated us to think that Naruto was guilty at first. And he is right, while I wasn't here all you guys did was watch the chunin die. Quite shameful if you ask me."

Being insulted by a senior Anbu wasn't the thing that thrilled the impulsive Anbu. But he didn't really want a demotion by creating a scene, so he let go of the matter. He looked back to see that Naruto was walking out of the forest, Iruka's dead body in his hands.

30 minutes later by the graveyard

Naruto layed Iruka's body on the green grass a while ago, and since then all he did was stare at Iruka's peaceful face. The Hokage jumped into the clearing next to Naruto. After not finding a way to approach him he just stood there quietly. Before he could speak, Naruto cut him off, "So what happens to me now?"

"Well you are a ninja now since your teacher decided to pass you Naruto-kun. You are supposed to meet in your academy in by 6:30 so you have about 30 minutes left to go there to see your teammates." Naruto absorbed all the information, not bothering to ask anything about the team meeting. 'After all the thought that I had to put into choosing the team for him, he didn't even seem interested in it. Seems like he did change a lot.'

"What happens to Iruka-sensei?"

"He will be buried here for now. His funeral will be held soon."

"What happened to Iruka-sensei?"

Sarutobi's eyes widened at hearing that. Naruto already knew there would a cover story for the whole event. Naruto truly did learn a lot, and one of the first things he learned in the last few hours was to not trust. "A group of rogue ninjas invaded the village in disguise of merchants, and when Iruka was doing late night work in the academy he found that were trying to steal the forbidden scroll. He alerted other ninjas, and managed to stop the bandits from getting the scroll, even though he died from fatal injuries."

Naruto just nodded hearing the full story. "Alright then Hokage-sama, I will leave for the meeting right away."

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched him walk further and further away, until he faded away from his vision. It did hurt a little, the smile now gone from Naruto's face that used to light up his day all the time. Hokage-sama was something that he didn't wish to be called by, at least by Naruto, he much preferred his usual Hokage-jiji that everyone thought was disrespectful. But he knew that was a sign of Naruto's trust and now he had lost it. 'What else could I have expected after lying to him all these years?'

With Naruto:

Naruto kept walking through the marketplace, the glares finally making sense. He would have much preferred to have been confused and sad rather than the feeling of irritation he has now that he knows the reason for the glares. Over the last few hours, he ate himself up over what to do now that Iruka-sensei is dead. How can he honor his death? What has his death taught? He kept walking forward with this questions in mind.

'Become stronger to protect who are precious to you.'

Naruto took off the headband that Iruka gave him, and stared at it while walking through the crowd that split up like the Red Sea in front of Moses to avoid contact with the demon brat.

'Your sensei will always be watching over you.'

He looked up from the headband to see door of the academy. He entered the room, as he put on his headband. He saw in front of him in the class were all the students that graduated, and a few ninjas, and the substitute academy teacher. Some of those were showing pure hatred through their eyes, while some showed something akin to pity. But teacher, ninja or students, all they received was a cold glare from Naruto.

'Trust no one.'

'Betray no one.'

' Live the life that would give value to Iruka-sensei's teachings & sacrifice.'


	2. Chapter 2: Brain Over Brawn

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing. And thanks to those who did review the chapter. And I am extremely sorry for the long wait.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes.

Hope you guys like the story!

Chapter 2: Brain over Brawn.

The deadlast student in the academy passed while most of the class didn't? That wasn't something remotely believable, and just like everyday Sakura and Ino were the first to voice their beliefs about Naruto's failure before Naruto could come out lashing at Sasuke just like the other days.

"How did Naruto-baka get the headband! He didn't pass the exams!"

"He must have cheated!"

"Sasuke-kun became a ninja fair & square. So he is still better than you!"

On the front of the room Asuma sensei facepalmed loud enough to make the other jounins pity his face. 'Out of all the students I had to get the loudmouthed blonde girl. Screw my life.' Kakashi would have had a similar reaction had he not been late by 3 hours after getting lost in the path of life. An outbreak from the blonde boy was anticipated by the Jounins based on what they heard about him. Beyond everyone's anticipation Naruto didn't bother to respond, only his eyes meeting theirs to give them a cold glare. Sakura and Ino kept quiet as they allowed Naruto to move up the platforms to reach a seat in the back of the room.

Silence took over the room, as the atmosphere got more and more uncomfortable. 'I might have gone a bit too far with that one I guess.' Those were Ino's exact thoughts about what she said to Naruto. 'But then again, he never stays angry on anyone for long.' After consoling herself, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She would have been more comforted if she found out Naruto wasn't even angry at her. He was angry at himself, because everything she said was true. He didn't get the headband fairly. He cheated to pass the exam, which costed his teacher's life. He wasn't strong or courageous enough to stand up against Mizuki when Iruka-sensei was trying to protect him. Sasuke had his fire jutsus that could have used at that time. Sasuke could have bought some time with his tai-jutsu because his taijutsu was always better than Naruto's. Sasuke wouldn't have been dumb enough to believe Mizuki in the first place. Naruto hated himself more than anything.

The silence of the room was split by the noise of the Hokage walking into the room. Everyone stood up to respect his presence, as he walked to the middle of the room. "I want to congratulate all of you here for passing the academy exams. I have personally monitored the selection of teams of three genins and a Jounin sensei. Team 7 is going to be composed of Sai, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha and supervised by Kakashi Hatake." The high pitched scream by the pink haired girl was enough to show how annoyingly pleased she was with the selection. On the other hand an equally loud thump was heard nearby from Ino smashing her head into the table. Moving past the distractions the Hokage continued, "Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame will form Team 8 led by Kurenai Yuhi. Finally Team 10 will be formed by Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi led by Asuma Sarutobi."

Everyone other than Ino was quite content with their team selection. No one really bothered about not hearing Naruto's name, until Naruto's partner in crime and mischieves, Kiba spoke up, "So Naruto flunked this year?" This piqued everyone's interest, since they didn't receive any reaction from Naruto earlier/regarding his possession of the ninja headband. They all took a good look at the Hokage as if demanding some answers.

"Naruto's position in the team will be something I will be trying out for the first time with any team of genins. He will be support for the other teams. The Jounin senseis can meet up and decide on an exam to accept to train and receive Naruto for support in missions along with their team."

By the time the Hokage had finished talking, everyone was confused and pretty shocked. Kurenai Yuhi, the usually calm and stoic person didn't take a moment to voice her opinions,"Forgive me Hokage-sama, but you never told us about this!"

"I made this decision this morning, so I didn't have enough time to alert you about this."

"But why should he be allowed to be support for a team? His scores were below passing and he didn't even graduate the academy exam." The hatred and mistrust she held for the boy was clear as a day. How could she not have hated him, her role model the Yondaime died because of that thing inside him. He almost let out that beast's chakra this very morning, what could possibly stop him next time outside the village?

"The headband he is wearing is proof enough that his sensei thought him fit to be a genin. Besides, if you find his skills lacking you can decide to not include him as a support for your team. Now is that all?" Kurenai took a good look at Naruto, and the headband she had previously thought was stolen didn't look new at all. In fact it had stains of blood and scratches indicating it belonged to a seasoned ninja, most likely Iruka. Even though unsatisfied with the turn of events, she at least had the freedom to not accept him in the team.

"Hai Hokage-sama."

"Naruto-kun, remember to come to the third training ground next week to meet up with your senseis at 8 in the morning. Also Asuma, would you mind relaying the information to Kakashi when he arrives?"

"Of course not Hokage-sama."

The Hokage left the academy, and teams with their Jounin senseis, and Naruto by himself, although Kakashi's team left three hours after the others.

The Hokage was walking by himself, rethinking his decision of Naruto's position in the team. He thought Naruto needed another year at the academy to be ready for the ninja world. But seeing him fight against Mizuki he realized a few things, Naruto had immense potential in mastering or even creating ninjutsu, thanks to his immense chakra, his genes and lastly shadow clones. He could learn Jutsus extremely fast, it took him an hour to learn an A-rank jutsu for God's sake. Also if Naruto inherited Minato's chakra nature then he could be a great wind style user. Manipulating chakra nature usually takes a lot of chakra, but Naruto could last days while manipulating chakra nature. He was also a Jinchuriki, and having the jinchuuriki of the strongest Bijuu meant having a sea of chakra and destructive power on the side. However the biggest reason he gave Naruto the chance to be support for the teams was guilt, guilt of not giving Naruto to change the fate of Iruka. If only he wouldn't have hesitated to give Naruto the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Naruto would have passed the academy exam. If only he had been able to keep Naruto's jinchuuriki status secret from the beginning, he wouldn't have faced this day when the only person he could see as a family would be his dead sensei. The hell that Naruto's life was right now was all Sarutobi's fault.

With Naruto:

Rows of tables, hundreds of shelves and thousands of books, it couldn't get anymore confusing than that. This was his first time going to a library. Books were repulsive, but the knowledge wasn't anymore. He learnt the value of knowledge and the lack of his therefore. He needed it for his test tomorrow, he needed to learn more about fighting and strategy. The librarian was kind enough to not kick him out of the library, so finding the books were the only things he needed to do. His shadow clones came into existence as he made the handsign, and they started following the orders they received from their creator. The rows of the library swarmed with orange, and the people in the library would have been astonished with the second had they not been too busy reading their books to notice any changes in their surroundings. The clones gathered a bunch of books they thought were important and laid it on a table. Naruto took the abominations, also known as books, and selected the ones he wanted to read. 'The Fundamental Principles of A Shinobi' and 'Basics of Being A Ninja' were the two books that he selected. He created two clones to read them and summarize the contents to him.

By the time Naruto reached home it was 12 in the night. The library closed by 7, but he went to a training ground to practice what he had learned before. He didn't really know how to prepare for the test. All he knew was that if he were to be tested through a fight, his strength would equal to nothing. His brain would have to substitute for the skills and strength he lacks. With all these thoughts he lied down in his bed, with determination to learn newer things from the library over the whole week.

Next day in the morning:

The newly graduated genins other than Naruto gathered in the Hokage's office upon the Hokage's call.

"Today I summoned you here bearing the news of your sensei Iruka's death. A group of rogue ninjas invaded the village in disguise of merchants, and when Iruka was doing late night work in the academy he found that they were trying to steal the forbidden scroll. He alerted other ninjas, and managed to stop the bandits from getting the scroll, even though he died from fatal injuries." Sarutobi felt a breeze of relief hit him, as his practise of the delivery of the false story yielded perfect results. The students were too saddened to doubt the information. He kept it hidden yesterday to not affect their tests given by their Jounin senseis. Today it felt dirty to lie to students about their teacher's death, but this is responsibility that comes with the job. Doing anything to protect peace and prosperity in the village was the Hokage's job. He gave up the option to keep such morality when he took on the title of Hokage.

Naruto kept going on his trips to the library for the whole week. New methods of practice were what he received from the books. Every trip to the library was complimented by an equally long trip to the training ground for putting his acquired knowledge to practice. The day for his test arrived, and his eyes gained dark circles similar to the Jinchuuriki of the sand. Sleep wasn't something he actually got for the last week. Every time his eyes would close, his sensei's face would show up. Blood dripping down the sides of his mouth, eyes closed and no signs of life. And every time Naruto would wake up covered in more and more sweat, fear and despair. Sleep isn't something he even fancied anymore, he hated it. But at least he got to prepare a plan for his test meanwhile, even though he had no idea what the test would be about.

Early morning on the day of the test

"There was a greater chance of me being afraid of getting cancer from smoking than you showing up on time." All the other jounins were just as surprised as Asuma at Kakashi's early coming.

"I was going to be late if your father didn't threaten to cut my monthly pay yesterday." Then under his breath he mumbled, "Even then I would have come late if I knew this youthful beast is coming."

"My eternal rival, your youthful arrival astonished me, you never cease to amaze me! To celebrate your early arrival, why don't we run a 50 mile race!"

Even though the others were entertained by the interaction at first, now they felt pity for Kakashi.

"We have to test the boy first don't we? You can do the race after that if you want." Asuma bud in to make sure Gai doesn't get over enthusiastic with his challenges.

"Of course why not!"

"Now would you mind deciding on a test for Naruto."

Kakashi spoke up, " I propose this-"

8:00 AM in training ground 3

Naruto just landed on the ground next to Kakashi from the tree. Naruto recognized this masked man really well, he was the only ninja besides Iruka who could catch him really quickly after any prank. But Kakashi didn't have even a remote idea of who the boy was, except for the blonde hair and whisker marks nothing of resemblance remained. Gone were his eyesore of an orange jumpsuit, missing were his goggles and that cheerful face that would never let him be angry at Naruto in the past. Those charming blue orbs now were surrounded by dark lines of tiredness. There was no point in asking how the boy was doing, it was apparent. So he decided to talk about the test right on since he saw Naruto become discomforted by his starting. "Are you ready for the test?" 'What a lame question! I should have taken a while to ask a good question. Damn it, I gave a failing grade for first impressions of my team, and now I have a lane first impression myself!'

"Ready or not, I would be taking the test today either way."

'Now that was a cool line to say.' Kakashi was a bit more hopeful now. It was really weird how he judged people from first impressions. He trusted a person's attitude quite a lot. "Since you are ready, let's start. Naruto, do you know what this paper is?" Kakashi said while waving a small piece of paper in front of him. Seeing his eyes narrowing on the paper for a while, Kakashi decided to answer his own question. "It is known as a chakra paper, and when you pass chakra through it, the paper will change in ways to let you know what your chakra nature is." When he saw Naruto's eyebrows furrow up even more than before he realized his explanation only confused Naruto even more. "Not that you would know about manipulating chakra nature right now anyway. Just take this paper and flow your chakra into it."

"Like this?" Naruto asked while holding the paper with fingers on each side and chakra flowing across. As soon as he look down the paper cut into 6-10 pieces, and those pieces crumbled up and again started getting split.

Kakashi's face showed a lot of interest, which was visible even through his mask. 'He even inherited sensei's chakra nature.'

Nearby Asuma's face was twisted into a maniacal grin. Asuma was the most able wind user in the village at the moment, and that boy was overflowing with that chakra affinity. He could be a great find for him.

"Naruto, your chakra affinity is Wind and a little bit of electricity. In the future you could train with your affinity to strengthen your jutsus. So having wind and electricity chakra nature means you could use them to make your jutsus more powerful or even new jutsus. " The old Naruto would have been jumping in joy by now, but the new Naruto isn't going to do that. At least that's what he was trying to do, but a smile crept up his face. It was a bit weird for Kakashi to see Naruto trying to smile and also make a serious expression at the same time. Deciding to move past that he continued, " Since that's out of the way, your first test would be to get your hands on the scroll from Asuma. He is obviously going to try to stop you from getting the scroll. However he is going to try to injure you, and quite badly. The rules for the next test would be in the scroll. Your test starts now. Good luck!"

Naruto saw the scroll in Asuma's hand, and ran towards him, but all he managed to catch was white smoke since Asuma took that time to shunshin away from there.

Kakashi rubbed his head sheepishly as he said in an apologetic tone, "Oh I forgot to tell you that Asuma would choose the location by himself. But don't worry he won't use that move again, he will stay in one location for the rest of the test if he isn't improvising."

Naruto got up from the soft grass on which he landed face first and ran in a direction. His nose could sense the smell of cigarettes in the direction he was running. He was always good at smelling objects, but never as good as the dog boy in his class. But now he could smell everything, the lipstick on Kurenai's lips, the odour of sweat coming from the youthful green beast, and the stronger smell of cigarettes from Asuma's body. Unknown to him was that the last time he used the Kyuubi's chakra in the forest he gained some physical changes such as in strength and smell.

After a good 15 minutes of running he reached the source of the smell. He entered a thick bush, and beyond it was a clear opening.

By the time he reached the opening the smell of smoke was too intense for him to barely tolerate anymore. The surrounding was clouded in smoke as if the mist had taken hold of the forest. And then he heard the one noise that scared the crap out of him, a metallic click. That was all he heard before the whole opening burst into flames including himself.

Kakashi, who was reading his erotic magazines scratched his head remembering something. 'I might have forgotten to tell him there could be traps.'

Asuma came out of a tree and was about to take a look at the carnage he brought upon the space, but he saw the burning Naruto disappear into flames. Now it was a barren open field with broken logs near his feet from the destruction, but no signs of Naruto. While he was recovering from the shock, his ear picked up a whistling noise approaching as he turned his head. A kunai aimed for the scroll on his pouch was stopped by his bare hands, as he he smiled finally. 'So he was using a Kage Bunshin before. Amazing that he learned such a difficult jutsu, not everyone with high chakra can do it. I **need** to train this guy.' but his praises were cut short as the broken logs near his feet suddenly gave rise to Naruto's body through the Kawarimi jutsu, and now Asuma had a hand reaching for the scroll to deal with. He grabbed Naruto's hand with his free hand and with a kick to the face Naruto was sent spinning away.

"Nice plan, didn't think you were type to think things through. Seems like academy records are inaccurate after all. But you gotta do better than that to get this scroll from me." He stopped himself from laughing as he saw Naruto getting up from the ground to only sit down and start thinking. He was just about to be burned to a toast a few seconds ago and now he was sitting in front of that attempted murderer thinking of a plan. A prankster like Naruto making a plan to steal something, the very prospect of the kid doing a prank used to excite him. Deciding to make it even more fun he added some conditions, "You know what, for the entire test the scroll will be right on the ground here." Asuma said while pointing at a spot on the ground where he laid the scroll. "And I won't even touch it anymore, so if you can touch the scroll you pass the first test." He then expected Naruto to race for the scroll, but his expectation was disappointed since Naruto didn't move from his spot. "What's up with you brat? Not gonna move today?"

Finally Asuma was blessed to Naruto tilt his head to look at him. " If I can't beat a single chunin with all of my and Kyuubi's strength, then I have no chance in hell to touch that scroll by myself without any plans when a Jounin is standing by."

Asuma's face could now only be compared to someone who hit a jackpot. In a sense he did. To get to train a jinchuuriki, who can learn jutsus fast, has the same chakra affinity, knows making shadow clones and has the mind of the devil. And the biggest of all was the presence of a mind able to recognize it's own flaws. Nothing else could he ask from a student. From the test he gave to his own team yesterday he learned that they severely lacked manpower. Chouji had to cover the asses for both Ino and Shikamaru's plans and strategic jutsus. Pass or fail, Asuma's taking Naruto as support for his team.

Asuma decided to wait a few minutes to see what the boy could come up with. A few minutes later Asuma took out a new pack of smokes and suddenly he saw Naruto throw a smoke bomb to the ground. 'Things are finally about to get interesting.' Two Narutos came running out of the smoke, while another one disappeared into the thick forest behind the smoke. Unluckily Asuma's eyes never left any of the Narutos. The first two came and dispelled as soon as Asuma slashed through them with his trench knives. The forest shook up as a bunch of other Naruto's started swarming in. But each of the Narutos were taken out by single slashes and punches. The group that swarmed swarmed in from the forest was all demolished, under a minute. "That better not be all that you have kid-" as soon as he said that a puff of smoke right in front of his face closed in with a fist to his face. But before the first could hit his face Asuma caught the fist and with a strong grip it burst into smoke. 'Dammit, how did that come out of nowhere?' Too busy trying to solve the mystery he noticed another puff and another Naruto going in for the hit. "I don't know how you are doing that, but you are not passing the test until the real you touches the scroll." He grinned seeing the fading color in the faces of the clones that popped up right next to him. But it was getting a bit annoying with the clones, they just kept coming and coming.

Asuma chopped one clone and soon another clone would pop up in a place even more inconvenient for him to fight. He would slice a clone in front, and a clone would pop up in the back. Each clone he popped ,put himself in more disadvantage. 'I might just miss my date with Kurenai if this keeps up.' Suddenly he smiled again. "You have to get the scroll from me in the next 15 minutes or you don't pass." Suddenly the clones became more aggressive, trying to get him further and further away from the scroll, and he obliged without hesitation. After a good 30 clone popping, 7 clones appeared surrounding Asuma from all sides. Just when he was about to start destroying those new clones, a splinter from a tree left from the explosion earlier switched places with a Naruto. Asuma's eyes widened, so Naruto was waiting for this. Naruto's hands couldn't reach the scroll since a trench knife aimed by Asuma was going to pierce Naruto's hand if he did. Naruto jumped back to avoid the hit. Asuma's smile got wider, the real Naruto was finally out, he had to dodge the attack whereas all the clones just took the hits without dodging. Asuma jumped and grabbed a hold of Naruto and put his arms to the back. Since Naruto was squirming too much, he bonked him in the head. And he realized his mistake, as soon as the Naruto he was holding turned into smoke and a hand underneath the ground broke out to grab hold of the scroll. The real Naruto now had the scroll in his hands.

Asuma stayed there with a wide open mouth, a fresh out of academy brat created a plan that worked against him. "How?"

"How what?" Naruto replied.

Asuma tried a bit to regain his composure. "How did you get the scroll? I mean when did you go underground?"

"Well when I threw the smoke bomb I went underground."

"Wait so how did all those clones appear from the jungle then? I only saw three of you leaving for the jungle."

"I created them before I entered this place. I hated the smell of smoke, so I didn't want to come any closer when I first saw this place. So I just sent one clone to go so I won't need to smell that crap. And when it got toasted I made other clones and walked in. The clone that went into the jungle after I made the smoke bomb went in to tell them their job."

"So you are telling me you were there underground the whole time? Then how come you managed to create all those clones so close to me without even seeing anything?"

 _ **Flashback**_

 _Naruto was reading about deception in the book in the library. He was trying to concentrate on the most boring text he ever read, but he was continuously disturbed by his clones. Some of them would fight each other over books, some would fall from ladders. "Alright, two of my clones just popped each other in a fight. I am so chewing their heads right now." Naruto stomped down the rows of shelves to reach the one where they were having a fight club. Seeing the scenery he just coughed a little. They didn't bat him an eye. Naruto's twitching eyes might have been an indication of annoyed he was . "You guys should stop fighting any moment now."_

 _One of the clones spoke up, "Oi, shut up, stop ruining the fun."_

" _Maybe I should dispel you then."_

 _The clones just turned their head slowly in fear, and paid their undivided attention to the real Naruto. One of the spoke up, "Boss, I swear we were just having a bit of fun. We were not doing anything serious."_

 _The real Naruto facepalmed himself. Those were his clones, so their pathetic excuse making skills reflected his own. "Mind telling me how two clones punched themselves in the face and nuts if this wasn't anything serious?"_

" _Boss, how did you kno-" he was clasped shut by the other clones._

" _I know because I remember them getting hit when, wait, how do I remember that?" Suddenly Naruto ran off to see a whole shelf of books on the floor close by. Once again all he could remember was the clones getting dispelled by getting hit by those books. The dots connected. Every time the clones popped he must have gotten memories from them. After his reading session he went to the training ground and put it to application. He was right. They gave memories to him when they popped. However he would have been happier if hadn't needed to pop 100 clones at once and fry his brains for the sake of science."_

 _ **Flashback ends.**_

"When my clones pop I get memories from them. So every time you popped them, you helped me track you."

"But still how did you make them so close to me?"

Naruto was annoyed of all these questions. "I practiced to make them anywhere within 10 meters of myself. I didn't know if I was a short, middle or long ranged fighter, so I practiced with my range yesterday. Now I am not answering anymore of your questions!"

Too late since Asuma found all the answers he wanted. "Next time remember not to disclose your strengths to your enemies. If I wanted to kill you right now, your information would have only helped me." Naruto's eyes widened at hearing that. Asuma was right, he disclosed most of his strengths to him without hesitation, 'most'. Asuma saw the sign of understanding in Naruto's face and realized his message was sent across to Naruto. He faced his back towards Naruto. Asuma's face was starting to sweat by now, he didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to buy that. He just made an excuse for being so curious of how a brat could beat him. He ended up even looking cool in front of the boy.

Naruto composed himself, deciding never to make the mistake of leaking his own information. "So, what exactly do I have to do for my next test?"

"Open the scroll."

Naruto opened the scroll. He began to read what was in the scroll.

 _/*_

 _Congratulations on getting the scroll._

 _Now run and escape from this training ground before we catch you._

*/

"They will start chasing you the moment I blow whistle. I will give you some time to plan, let me know when you are ready for me to blow the whistle. And for answering all of my questions, I will let you in on one thing. They are going to try to stop you with the intent to kill. A Jinchuriki who gets caught by others will only be a danger for our own village. For this test they will use every opportunity to try to kill you. If you have to fight them, fight with the will to kill or be killed."

Naruto absorbed in all the information and started his planning. "So are all three of them going to be chasing me?"

Asuma replied, "Even if you did know who was chasing, how would you know they are not just using some sort of Henge?"

"I can smell them"

The perks of this boy kept getting bigger and bigger. With his shadow clones, and smell the boy could be an amazing scouter. "Kurenai and Kakashi are going to chase you."

Naruto sat down. He didn't know much about the lady, but he could see she hated him. He would have to stay at a distance from her at all costs. On the other hand the gray haired Jounin seems not to hate him at all. But hate him or not, both Jounins will come with the intent to kill. All he has to do is escape from them. When the gears in his plan clicked into place in his head he got up. Taking that as the indication that Naruto was ready, Asuma blew the whistle. He yelled out a quick 'Good Luck' to the fading form of Naruto.


	3. Chapter 3: All Or Nothing

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

Lawrencedj: Glad you found the story unique. I plan on updating it every 3-4 weeks. I know it is pretty slow, but I have to plan many things in advance and I have school to go to. So I have to do most of my work on the train, hence the delay.

Facebreaker17: Thank you so much for the compliment! I plan on using a lot of strategic fighting in this story, and I am relieved to get a positive response about it. The official pairing is Naruto/ Ino. Naruto will mainly focus on wind, but due to specific enemies (hint* his so called 'best' friend) he will eventually develop a little of lightning. Also his lightning isn't too strong, so he is limited from using heavy lightning jutsu like chidori, but he will use it in an efficient and unique way . His father had wind and lightning affinities which is why I made Naruto have it. But I do appreciate your suggestion, but if I do that my whole story would have to be changed.

Elder Sibling: Which one would you think would hurt someone more? A rejection from normal teams or seeing your teacher killed for your incompetence? Answer is the latter one. Also Naruto would be assigned to be support, which is darn close to official teams. Sorry that I am not a psychological expert like you tho.

Guest: Sorry you thought my story was cliched.

Thanks to all the others who reviewed. Your reviews make my day, positive or negative.

Anyway we are at Reviews:17, Favs:57, Follows:87. Let's increase that number fast!

I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes.

Hope you guys like the story!

Main events in this chapter: Naruto's test finishes and he gets the results. Kurenai's hate for Naruto is explained a bit more in details.

Chapter 3: All Or Nothing!

The whistle blew, indicating it was time for Naruto to run his ass off from the ground before getting caught or injured. The jounins would definitely not hold back if the person to be injured had the ability to heal quicker than anyone else in the village. Now Naruto's biggest problem was that there were too many directions off the field that he could follow. He started off in the direction of the trees to his back, as soon as he smelled the presence of Kurenai, and Kakashi closing in extremely fast from in front of him.

At a distance Asuma saw Naruto running towards the open fields and sharply changing his direction of motion to enter the dark forest. Asuma felt almost bad for Naruto. Even though he was extremely smart to avoid traps, he fell for this one. Call it a jounin's intuition, Asuma instinctively knew that the forest was a trap for Naruto.

Naruto had been touching the barks of the trees to gain some sense of direction while walking through the innumerous vines, shrubs and trees. The stagnant air flow inside the forest was almost suffocating and quite frustrating for him. The strong smell of the vines overpowered every other traces of smell, and with no wind Naruto's nose became as useless as his eyes in the dark forest. By now Naruto could feel the danger dawning upon him, and no sooner he felt that, he was hanging upside down from a tree. Squinting really hard he managed to see the rope that attached to his leg to the branch, was being held in Kakashi's hands, who was at the moment sighing in disappointment. "This was the simplest trap in this forest, and you fell for it. Well the whole forest was a trap and you fell for it, quite disappointing indeed."

After grumbling for a while, Naruto spoke up,"How was the whole forest a trap?"

Kakashi made a hand sign, and a clone formed next to him. "This was the trap." Naruto's face showed not a single sign of being convinced, so Kakashi continued, "When you ran after Asuma-san even though he was miles away, I knew it was your sense of smell that helped you. So I decided to use your smell against you. I created this solid clone to run in from the direction opposite to the forest, so that you start heading towards the forest."

"That was cool, but how does it help you in any way?"

Kakashi's eyebrows started twitching in annoyance, "Since there's no wind in this woods, you cannot smell me, and it's too dark for you to even see me. Entering into an unknown territory without caution is proof enough that you are not ready to be a ninja."

Kakashi then dispelled both of his shadow clones, and his eyes went straight to look at the hanging Naruto that turned into smoke exactly after seeing Kakashi's reaction.

The clone that lured Naruto into the forest had long thought his job was done, and continued in his indulgence in reading Icha Icha novels. But a while later he saw a speck of blonde running out of the forest, which he immediately started chasing until. His chase would have definitely ended he was dispelled by the original Kakashi.

Kakashi ran out of the forest where his clone was chasing Naruto, and as expected Naruto didn't make it too far from that place given the time interval was extremely small. 'Well one shunshin shouldn't be too much for testing a jinchuuriki.' With that self-consoling thought he teleported his existence hundreds of meters away right in front of Naruto who received a solid kick to his guts to be sent flying for several meters.

To Kakashi it was just another kick that he delivered to a ninja, but to someone like Naruto it was like getting hit by a burning hammer in the stomach. All the air was knocked out of him in a single moment. He tried kneeling for a while to stabilize his breathing, but Kakashi pulled him up by his ears and his intention which was to bind Naruto's hands with ropes was left unfulfilled as Naruto formed the seal for Kage Bunshin Jutsu. Five clones formed around him that started to attack Kakashi from all sides to create distance between him and Naruto. Kakashi just looked at the wobbling figure with shock. Naruto couldn't even stand up properly, let alone think well enough. 'He has no control over his body and mind, and he is still able to form solid clones at ease. He must have practiced making tens, no, hundreds of clones everyday last week!' However to a seasoned ninja, a group of five clones with no amazing Tai-jutsu was ages away from being a challenge. As soon as Kakashi popped through the clones one by one, Naruto steadied himself. His amazing healing factor kicked in to allow him to gain control over his body again.

He started running again and deciding it's time to use his tools he distributed loads of Kunai and Shuriken to the clones he created immediately afterwards. Spreading out around Kakashi the clones started a barrage , throwing sharp blades aimed Kakashi's head, most of which missed the target or got deflected by the kunai in Kakashi's hand. Bunch of Naruto's clones started to attack Kakashi to allow the real one to escape. Once again Kakashi simply flew past each of the clones, not before cutting parts of them using his kunai. Once he caught up to Naruto he tripped Naruto to the ground with a kick to the ankle. The pathetic mess that Naruto seemed compared to Kakashi, was then kicked around by Kakashi. "So you wanted to be a ninja but you can neither fight nor run? What a waste of all that chakra." The lazy laid back tone in Kakashi's voice made it sound a hundred times more annoying to Naruto. Naruto started forming clones around Kakashi again. Kakashi punched one of the clones into a smoke of cloud and instantly another clone formed right behind Kakashi that was reaching for his face with his fist. Kakashi didn't even look back, as he tilted his head to the side to dodge the incoming fist and punched through the cloud that was once a shadow clone. Naruto stood there shocked as he watched all of his clones getting beaten up without kakashi breaking a sweat. Naruto formed clones to his side, behind him or above him. Nothing worked in Kakashi, he had but only one eye to view his surrounding, but his fighting made it look like he had eyes everywhere. Naruto stood there, quiet as a rock. All of his tricks rendered ineffective, any chance of him passing reduced to mere imagination. Kakashi decided to enlighten the boy who looked like he had seen a ghost. "You know, I too can create shadow clones. I know more than well how and where you could create clones to best me. Every time I destroyed your Clone, I left some portion of my body unguarded to draw you into attacking there. You weren't making clones in different places to attack me, I was forcing your clones to be created in different places to be destroyed by me."

Understanding washed over Naruto. Fighting with clones wouldn't bring him any closer to an escape route. 'I see, so he knows all about my clones. I have to do something that no clone user would ever do, and only then can I get even any hopes of escaping from him.' Naruto started going through any and everything that happened today. Most clearly he remembered how Kakashi had destroyed every one of his clones without breaking a sweat. 'I don't think I can escape him without taking a risk. It's the only option I have left to pass this test. I don't care what happens to me, but I have to pass the test.' Naruto formed 15 clones around him. Now 15 Naruto charged towards Kakashi and the other Naruto made for one last escape attempt. The 15 Naruto that was going to attack Kakashi started running in a zigzag formation.

'I see, so you made the clones run in a zigzag so that I cannot kill them all in a single line of attack. I would have to change my direction of running and also waste more time behind them.' Then Kakashi took out his kunai knives in his hands. 'But still, what a waste.' Kakashi took 8 Kunais and threw them at the clones on the right of the zigzag formation. The Kunais hit their target head on, literally, in the middle of their head.

As soon as the clones on the right dispersed, the clones on the left got their warning sign. Having no time to think about a plan. They once again divided themselves in the zigzag formation. 'This is not going to help you this time Naruto. All 7 of you are in range of both of my hands.' Kakashi took out two more Kunais in both of hands, and in one straight line he charged forward, both arms extended and blades sticking out. He sliced through them like butter, and nothing more was even needed since a single strike was enough to dispel clones. He headed straight forward towards the other Naruto that escaped. He started running really fast. But this movement was much slower than his movements in a fight. This time the chase would come down to stamina, who ever lasts longer will be the winner. In a fight all kakashi had to do was create bursts of extremely fast motions for a small amount of time. Of those bursts of fast movements were held throughout the chase his body would be exhausted. On the other hand hand Naruto had an extremely strong body and great stamina due to the Kyuubi being in him. Even if Naruto couldn't move extremely fast, he could still run for hours without being exhausted to the core. The chase however continued for a short period of time, about 5 minutes at most. As soon as Kakashi stopped him with a tackle, Naruto burst into a cloud of smoke. 'Not this again. How many clones does he have to make before he can face me by himself." Kakashi started looking around to find any trace of the blonde boy. Kakashi went back the path he followed in his chase, and there he saw it on the ground the proof of his own failure. 'So he tricked me using my own experience of shadow clones.' Blood, red as the petals of a rose, leading a straight path forward on the ground. 'Well there was no escaping it I guess, after all he put his life on the line to make that trap work.'

 _Flashback_

 _Kakashi just disclosed his secret to how he was able to defeat all of Naruto's clones without a single hitch. Naruto thought of so many scenarios at once, it was almost like those days in class when he would try to prank Iruka and fail. He would have to think of hundreds of counter measures within a few seconds unless he wanted to stay and clean up whole building. But unlike a few minutes earlier, now it was easier for him to think of any ideas, because any plan without a risk was out of the question. He had seen just how little a dot his abilities in comparison to Kakashi's abilities. Now all he could do was rely on the element of surprise, and hope his luck would favor him for once._

 _He started off by making 15 clones which started to divide in a zigzag. He himself went into the group of clones charging towards Kakashi while a clone took the honor of running away from the battleground. Kakashi would try to chase the clone thinking him to be the real, since no clone user would put their own life at risk when they can make clones. The two sides with the clones would divide Kakashi's attention. If Kakashi tried to take on the clones on the right side of the line, the the real Naruto who was on the left would throw a Kunai far away to do a Kawarimi (Body-replacement) jutsu to create some distance. But if Kakashi decides to attack the clones on the left first, then Naruto is screwed. He was only hoping that Kakashi would pick the group with the larger number of clones first, which was the line on the right._

 _Naruto saw the events unfold before his eyes, all of his calculations were proven once again by the display of Kakashi's skills. Kakashi didn't even spare a moment to see if the Kunais hit the target, as he started heading towards the clones on the left. As expected the Kunais pierced through the heads of the clones on the right. At that moment time almost slowed down for Naruto. He ran to create a zigzag like before with no motive, only an instinctive action to offer any form of consolation to his mine that he was trying to save himself. He actually had the option to admit defeat right there and live for another day, but he would choose death over being useless for a year as a ninja. He chose to stand his ground, Kunai held high in his hand, putting his full concentration on what was happening in front of him._

 _Kakashi moved closer and closer and with every step his heartbeat for faster and faster. One then two then three then four then five then six, all six clones were sliced cleanly within moments. Now he was closing in with both his blades and hands positioned to one side of his body as he zoomed past. Naruto saw the blade slice cleanly through his biceps. The bones were saved thanks to Naruto's extremely reaction of jumping sideways the moment the blade sliced his muscle. Naruto fell down to the side, not letting his eyes leave Kakashi's feet to predict his next move. But to his surprise, Kakashi kept running forward, extremely fast. Naruto's confusion was solved once he realized that Kakashi in the great of the moment must have confused slicing his muscle to be the same as slicing through a shadow clone. Naruto saw him fade into the horizon chasing after his clone, while he got off the ground._

 _Flashback End_

Naruto didn't have time to take a breather, since the pain in his hand didn't let him calm down, and to his despair good nose picked up a familiar scene. The smell that instantly let him know that he isn't going to be able to rest in the near future. The intense smell of Kurenai's lipstick blew in with the cool air that was blowing over the field. Naruto took one look at the women that was standing afar, her hair blowing in the wind. The front of her body covered in shade. But even through the shadow, her scarlet red irises met Naruto's blue irises. A jolt of fear ran through his body as he started running away from her. He knew she wouldn't kill him in a test, but his body and mind wouldn't listen to logic anymore.

He ran and ran,his left arm swinging back and forth, blood dripping down his fingers. He has already lost enough blood to make a normal person faint, but he kept on running. He couldn't move his hand anymore. Even though the pain was unbearable, he had a better ability to cope with it than anyone else in the village. Considering he was a jinchuuriki, it was normal for him to be kicked or often punched out of stores by adults, and rarely even beaten by a mob. He got that similar taste of pain today, after a long time infact, considering no civilian wanted to lay hands on him after his admission into the ninja academy. But one thing was different today, while his past injuries healed really fast, his muscle injury today didn't seem to heal at all. He carried his limp hand in his other hand running towards the end of the ground. He couldn't believe it, he was somehow approaching closer and closer to the gate until everything went to hell. Vines and thorns wrapped around his body, while flower petals flew past him. The thorns crushed down on his limp arm, while the other parts of his body started bleeding and rupturing. The flower petals circled each other until they built layers upon layers which gave rise to the woman that he least wanted to see at the moment.

Kurenai looked at him and said two words, "You failed."

Naruto got kicked, punched around, sliced by Kunais, ripped apart by thorns but he fainted right after hearing the word of him failing.

It was faint but a few voices finally reached his mind through the strong state of dizziness.

"Naruto wake up."

"Kurenai, we weren't supposed to use any high level techniques on him."

"It was just a simple Genjutsu, nothing extra ordinary. Even academy students could repel it."

"But that's not the point, you could have broken off the genjutsu after he went unconscious at least."

"I apologize, because I forgot."

Naruto opened his eyes after a large struggle and he saw Kakashi and Gai sitting next to him, while Kurenai and Asuma were standing up, facing their backs to each other. He looked around to remember what was going on, and then he saw the gate of the ground nearby and remember his loss. He failed the test, all the hard work and he still couldn't do it. He knew he was facing three jounins, but none of them even used a fraction of their strength and he still couldn't run away. His face told it all, today was definitely not a day he enjoyed.

"No need to look all sad. You didn't fail, yet." said Kakashi, emphasizing on the last word. Naruto looked up first on hope, and then confusion. "The test you took was made to test your skills and abilities. Whether or not you managed to escape the ground isn't the only factor we are going to consider while deciding to take you in as support for our teams."

Seeing Naruto still confused, Asuma joined in, "Each of our teams have weaknesses and strengths. So the test was to show us whether we can make use of your skills in our teams, not to see of you could escape the ground from 3 elite-jounins."

Naruto understood what he meant, "So did I pass or not?"

Kurenai opened her mouth again, and Naruto instinctively expected a grim response. "I do not think you are necessary for my team. I have a tai-jutsu specialist, and strong mid-ranged fighter and a smart long ranged fighter. All three of them are great trackers. You on the other hand failed to show any potential in gen-jutsu which was the only thing we lack. Plus I can not take the risk of taking a Jinchuuriki in my team."

As harsh as it was, Naruto understood all her points. She wasn't wrong, Naruto sucked at genjutsu and he didn't even know if he has any control over his monster, the nine tail. However Kakashi then spoke up, "I apologize for what I said during the test. You do have immense potential as a ninja. Even though I think my team is self sufficient, you might be a good addition to the team as a support sometimes. I will definitely train you with your shadow clones, since I am one of the few shadow clone users in Konoha. It's just that my team has some issues in teamwork, so I am going to spend a lot of time to fix their teamwork by completing missions with just the three genins in my team. However I definitely take you on missions I feel it is necessary to have extra help."

Naruto couldn't contain the smile in his face. But things only got better when Asuma decided to speak, "Well I am definitely taking you as support for my team. My team has extremely unique jutsus and high intelligence, but they lack the manpower to utilize their strengths. Plus I am only wind user that can train you in manipulating wind nature chakra, so I will definitely be taking you as support."

Gai was the last man to speak, "My team of genins is extremely strong, and to take you as support would show my lack of trust in them. But you remind me of one of my students. Even though he had the lowest score in academy, his youthful spirit and hard work has made him one of the strongest in his age. You have the spirit my Boy, and I wouldn't dare to waste it. I shall train you to reach your goals, I swear that upon my youthfulness!" The shine from his teeth blinded the spectators around him. But Naruto was definitely one happy man at that moment.

Kakashi, Asuma and Gai started discussing between themselves as to how and when they would train Naruto. "I will train him to properly use his clones. My team doesn't need much help in small missions, so I would leave the missions mostly to you Asuma."

"Alright, I can't teach him to use his wind nature right now anyway. So I guess I could get him some experience with missions, and fighting strategies."

" Gai, his taijutsu form seems to be horrible, I guess you should start teaching him from the basics of Taijutsu."

"Since you entrusted me with the duty of teaching him Tai-jutsu I shall not disappoint you my Eternal Rival!"

"Well,then that's settled. Asuma how about you train him for four days, I will train him once a week, and Gai will teach him once a week, so he will have one day free."

"Now, now Kakashi, just because I was most interested to take him doesn't mean I should do the most work, right?"

"He could reduce the time it takes for you to finish missions everyday you know. Especially when you have to do D-rank missions, you could use his clones." Jounin or not, no one wanted to spend hours after hours looking for cats and cleaning yards. Asuma at that moment thanked God for bestowing upon him the gift called Naruto.

After telling Naruto when to meet up, everyone left the ground. Kurenai planned to go home by herself, but Asuma joined in her voyage to her home. "So mind explaining what your problem is with Naruto?"

"Not much, I just believe he is dangerous."

"By dangerous you mean like killing someone with his pranks?"

"Real funny Asuma, you know exactly what I am talking about. He can not control the beast inside him."

"If he had no control, Konoha would be in ashes by now."

"Let me rephrase it then, he is losing control of the beast. It was Iruka last time, next time it might be someone else."

"You know, it only happened because of Mizuki's betrayal and Naruto's anger at him. It wasn't his fault."

"Exactly, it wasn't his fault. But someone still died, and next time the same thing could happen."

"I guess there is no point in trying to convince you. But one day you will see how wrong you were."

Kurenai kept walking absentmindedly. She had the least bit of intelligence to know that Naruto was the vessel, not the beast itself. But she knew one thing from her experience, a beast whether caged or not, can grab even the slightest opportunity to escape. She learned it from mistakes in her life, the one person she wished she could have saved. Yakumo Kurama, the heiress to the genjutsu specialist Kurama clan, had an extremely strong genjutsu Kekkei-Genkai that not even she could control. Kurenai wanted to train her feeble body to stand toe to toe against the might of other ninjas simply through her genjutsu. But she failed. The monster inside Yakumo had no restraint, and even after Kurenai sealed the monster she failed to stop it. The monster killed Yakumo's parents. Yakumo was left to survive in the world, without her parents, without even knowing who killed her parents. She didn't want the same thing to repeat with Naruto, he had suffered too much already. She saw the lifeless eyes of Naruto. Kurenai couldn't even tell Yakumo that she killed her parents herself in fear that Yakumo would fall in an endless feeling of guilt. But Naruto on the other hand saw it happen with his own eyes, he saw his teacher dying because of him right in his arms. If something like that were to happen again, Naruto wouldn't be able to live with his guilt, and the people around would never be safe again. No matter how bad Naruto would have felt not being a ninja, it would have been a lot better than hating himself so much. She couldn't make him understand, she just didn't have the words or the courage to tell him that after what she did to her own student. At this point her only hope was that she was wrong, and Asuma was right. Asuma would change Naruto, he would not let Naruto fall down the same road that she let her student Yakumo do.

Not even noticing how time passed by, she was in front of her door, and Asuma looked around to see if anyone was looking. And in a blink they entered the house, closing the door and the world behind them as they started engaging in a 'stress-relieving' activity.

The sun was setting in the horizon, while Naruto walked through the marketplace. The people around him glared at him, whispered at him, but Naruto didn't care. It definitely hurt, since now he knew why they hate him. Now he knew that they hate him for something he didn't even do, but it mattered not. He had already resolved himself never to trust anyone, and so it wouldn't even hurt if he was betrayed, or hated by them. All that mattered for now was that he could fight as a ninja, hone his skills as a ninja and show to everyone that Iruka didn't just waste his life away. He touched the headband on his head as he closed his eyes and imagined the silhouette of Iruka walking side by side with him. 'I am finally an official genin. I will definitely become strong like I told you sensei. So keep watching over me as I fulfill my promise.'


	4. Chapter 4: Changing Myself

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Thanks for the review :)!

Corpse candle: Yup, that was a bit intentional, because later on we are going to have some more things about her excuses, so then there might be some changes in her mind.

elder-sibling: Thanks for the advice, you definitely seem like a big brother.

Bankai777: Don't know yet, but yeah I will try to include her in the future.

Anoyak111: Maybe or maybe not, stay tune :)

facebreaker17: Glad to hear you liked the fight. I really wanted fights to be more strategic than magic explosions, so I was scared if you guys would like my style of writing fights or not. Your review made me feel lot better now :) .

Chickeninacoop: I know its really slow. I don't wanna take it too fast so that I don't lose interest or my motivation for writing. A long spanned writing time allows me more time to think :)

Basara-Jay: Great to hear you liked it. I will definitely try to keep you interested in the story :)

Thanks to all the others who reviewed. Your reviews make my day,positive or negative.

Anyway we are at Reviews:29, Favs:71, Follows:119. Let's increase that number fast!

I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes.

Hope you guys like the story!

Main events in this chapter: First mission, introduction to team 10.

Chapter 4: Changing Myself

The Yamanaka flower shop was just as empty as it could possibly be on a Sunday. It was nearly 2 pm, but still the sun wasn't scorching bright, partly due to the clouds. It was a really soothing weather, with a gentle breeze cooling the temperature of the store. Ino Yamanaka, next heiress and inheritor of the Yamanaka clan, stood on top of the counter with an expression resembling the epitome of human boredom. Had the store not been washed by colors of the flowers, and fragrance of the pollens, the store would have lost its cashier, Ino. Also Ino's parents were adamant on teaching their only daughter the value of work ethic, resulting in Ino's current mental exhaustion. She would rather take on the job of training Shikamaru to be a hardworking ninja over this. But her monotone filled day might just have been on the verge of being granted a source of entertainment. After much anticipation, the footsteps that she heard revealed to have belonged to none other than her sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. Her eyes scanned him down from his feet to his head, and her mouth split open into a big smile. By the time Asuma reached the counter, he felt his body start to shiver at the grin Ino had on her face. "So sensei, are you going out on a date with Kurenai-sensei?"

All the hours of work he put into keeping this a secret, and it didn't even last a second in front of the Gossip Queen of Konoha. How does she even do it? "H-o-w?"

"No ninja in Konoha in their right mind would put on such a manly perfume, and for god's sake I have never seen you comb your hair And Your Beard sensei!"

Many things were going through his mind at the moment, 'Should I run before she finds out more?' 'Was combing my beard such a bad choice?' 'How can I stop Ino from spreading rumors?' "Ino, please can you keep this a secret?"

"Keep what secret?"

Asuma was twiddling his thumbs as he quietly responded, "The date."

"What date Sensei?" Ino brought her ear out towards Asuma as if she couldn't hear him properly.

"The date with Kurenai." For some reason he felt embarrassed like a girl talking about her crush to her best friend. "So will you keep it a secret?"

"Yeah, of course." The relief in Asuma's face was clearly visible. "On one condition." Asuma knew he shouldn't have let his mind gain so much hope, there was always a catch to everything. "Please don't make us do those boring drills anymore. Next time I want a real mission!"

"Oh, definitely, next time team 10 meets we will be going on a mission!" 'Lucky me, I had already decided to do missions that day.' He said a quick bye and started leaving the shop, as he was stopped by a call. "Oi sensei you forgot to buy flowers for Kurenai sensei."

Asuma cursed himself in his mind. Why was he so nervous? Well partly because he had been having some issues lately with Kurenai's behavior towards Naruto. He needed to fix that issue, and on top of his nervousness Ino had to make him suffer even more. "Can you choose a flower that Kurenai might like?"

"Yes, of course."

About 30 minutes later a satisfied customer left the store in pursuit of his date.

"I'm back Ino!" Ino rushed to the front of the store to welcome her mom back to the shop. She was awfully excited because finally her mom would take over the store's work instead of her. Her boredom would come to a halt finally. "So how many customers came today?"

"Just two so far."

"Oh so I guess you are not tired, then you can help me with the store till your father comes back right?"

The next few moments composed of Ino leaning on the counter just like before, bored as hell, not feeling too well, only having flowers to sell, but no gossip to tell.

A man of strong build walked into the store as Ino was just about to fall asleep on the counter. "Welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop! How may I help you?"

"Yes, can you help me with picking flowers for my wife? Today is actually her anniversary, so I wanted to get something for her."

'Calluses on palm, broken nails, wood shavings on parts of his hand, and a bit of sweat on his hands. Must be a carpenter who works for a low wage, so he had to work even on his marriage anniversary, and he didn't get enough time to clean himself properly. So I need to choose a flower bouquet that is affordable, but simple and expresses the dedication and love he has for his wife.' "Yes of course, just wait a minute and I will prepare the flowers." Ino glanced through all the flowers in the store, she picked Jasmine, White Carnation and Heliotrope.

By the time she was about to start putting the flowers in a bouquet, her mom and over to help her. "You could go and have a bit of fresh air Ino, let me take of this bouquet for you."

Ino's mom probably never seen her so happy before. "Thank you mom!"

'She picked jasmine to represent sweet love, white Carnation for innocence and pure love, and Heliotrope for eternal love. Not bad, she has a good eye for flowers. Now the only thing that sticks out is that purple heliotrope in a bunch of white flowers. She is too obsessed with purple. But still she did a pretty good job it seems.' Ino had an especially keen eye for details. Her father being a member of the intelligence bureau of Konoha raised her to learn about her surroundings and others from observing. Her eyes could see through lies almost as well as an investigator. Her status as the Gossip Queen of Konoha was gained on basis of the quality of the secrets she shares about others, which she mainly learned through her investigative skills. The only limitation to her skills is that she could judge the validity of a statement that is spoken out loud, whereas the words of one's heart remain a mystery to her.

All the blonde locks of Ino's hair flew everywhere, but she didn't mind. The breeze was refreshing, bringing the scent of rain along with it. Even sitting down, enjoying the wind seemed more exciting to her than the shop work. As she was emerged in her thoughts, the customer who was a carpenter left the shop with a smile on his face and a flower bouquet in his hands. Behind him her mom came out of the store with a box in her hand. "So Ino, would you like some pudding?" Ino's head nodded up and down close to ten times a second. She was a pudding freak. Ino's mom began to feed her the pudding with a spoon, as if she was a baby, and she definitely didn't mind as long as she got to eat pudding. Her diet could wait. She took in the spoon full of pudding in her mouth as she watched a blonde speck moving on top of the buildings. It wasn't too hard to recognize since the blonde hair contrasted the gray clouds and buildings nearby. There was only one person who had blonde hair and was weird enough to jump over buildings rather than the streets, Naruto Uzumaki.

Nearly half an hour earlier. (With Naruto)

The fridge door was open, and the broken piece of wooden structure, used as a dinner table in Naruto's house, resembled the ruins of a great battle. Building like cartons of date expired milk leaning over, clotted blood thick rotten milk residue spilled over the table and the destroyed rubbles or the opened cans of food lay there on the table. Naruto was out of food again. Last time he managed to buy food stocks from a traveling merchant for a cheap price, but now they are all finished. He needed to find a way to fill his growling stomach which had gone empty for the last Twenty four hours.

He got out of his house through the window, as he landed on the roof, and started jumping to the other roofs. There was no point in going to the streets, the people hate his presence, he hates their glares, and the stores agent going to let him go away with a fair deal for any sort of commodity. He had now only one destination, one place for salvation, Ichiraku's Ramen shop.

He jumped from ceiling to ceiling, increasing his speed steadily as hunger increased proportionally. At this point he was about to consider asking Hokage to allow him to shop in the stores. But then again he stopped himself, because he didn't want to be in debt to someone who couldn't even ensure proper meals for a child even with the highest authority in the village. He continued on his voyage to Ichiraku, occasionally glancing left and right to spot any traveling merchant to ensure accessible meals for the next few months. As he looked to his left down the building, he saw a blonde lock of hairs blowing in the air. It didn't take a genius to figure out who could be a girl obsessed with purple and had long blonde hair. Her mother must be the one standing next to her, feeding her with a spoon. Ino's blue eyes met Naruto's for a mere second as the contact broke soon. 'Must be fun having parents to feed you when you are starving.'

In front of the Yamanaka shop (With Ino)

'Must be fun being able to do anything you want all day, without anyone to stop you,' thought Ino as she chewed on the soft delicious pudding while the blonde boy disappeared into the horizon. 'He used to do so many fun pranks. I kind of miss those pranks now, the whole city is always so quiet nowadays.' Ino opened her mouth for another bite as her mother placed the spoonful of pudding close to her lips. 'I can't even make fun of all the ninjas that couldn't catch Naruto after his pranks anymore.' After gulping down her food she closed her eyes to think about some of those pranks. 'Am I really that bored that now I am missing all of Naruto's pranks? I guess I really do need some source of entertainment.'

Both Naruto and Ino filled their appetites with their favorite food, after which nothing of great remark happened to their day and night. While Ino went to sleep on her comfy bed after saying goodnight to her parents, Naruto laid down on the couch. His bed was too broken to be safe for a nice night of sleep without some repairs.

7 o'clock next morning

"Why are you here Naruto!", exclaimed Ino. As if she needed another headache this early in the morning.

" I don't know, I lost my way to home.", replied Naruto without even bothering to look at them, since he was reading a book facing away from them.

"What a smartass." Ino was getting irritated by the fact that he didn't even react to her statement. She decided to direct her irritation at the person the ground. "Oi Shikamaru! Get your lazy ass off the ground. It's no time or place to be sleeping here." Shikamaru just rolled on to his side to avoid a direct confrontation with the source of disturbance. Ino wasn't too please apparently, as she yelled out louder, each syllable of Shikamaru's name in a furious tone, "Shi- ka-ma- RU!"

Shikamaru masssaged his ears a bit to relieve himself of the pain from the loud yelling hurting his eardrums. He sat up, with his eyes still closed to a line. "What a drag. My Mom forced me to wake up from sleep to come here, and now that I finally got to rest you had to wake me up again."

Ino smiled in victory as she had both Chouji and Shikamaru's undivided attention. "Alright team 10, from today we need to gear it up a notch. We have to work harder, to match the strength of team 7. I know that team is too powerful because of Sasuke-kun, but they are held back thanks to my dear friend Forehead. We need to be the strongest team!" Ino was still extremely sour about the fact that her childhood friend, Forehead or Sakura Haruno, broke her friendship with Ino just for the sake of chasing a guy. But thanks to that she always stays motivated to improve herself and her team, to build bonds with others not for the sake of passing time like Sakura, but for the sake of being true to herself. The Yamanaka clan's symbol, a bush clover, which symbolizes positive love, that values and treasures bonds between people. She values the ideal of the Yamanaka clan just like other members in her clans.

Chouji Akimichi who was quietly watching the drama unfold before his eyes while eating popcor-, no chips , finally decided to contribute to the conversation , "You are right Ino."

"Appreciate the support," said Ino with a thumbs up.

And by now the author of this horrible written fan fiction decided that it was high time for something to happen to advance plot.

Asuma Sarutobi appeared next to the trees under which team 10 was sitting and made his presence clear through coughing a bit. "Good morning kids!" No one in that field liked to be called a kid, especially when the person saying it had a stupid grin on his face.

"Good morning *munch* sensei!" said Chouji while chewing on his chips. Shikamaru fell asleep a while earlier so he had no idea of what was going on.

Ino inspected Asuma's smile with scrutinizing eyes, until her lips went gave rise to a huge evil smile. "So sensei you enjoyed yourself a lot yesterday, didn't yo-" Ino was cut off by Naruto.

"Sensei, you reek of lipstick, perfume and all sorts of weird things! Did you just come back from a battlefield?", said Naruto in an annoyed tone since his nose was going insane from all those strong scent.

"Oh yes it was, a battlefield for dominance," said Asuma with a dreaming face, "One that I didn't mind losing."

"You sound weird sensei, I think you should take the day off," it didn't take a genius to figure out that Naruto wasn't a genius at human reproductive process and entertainment that is gained in that process.

Ino on the other hand found everything very odd. 'How did Naruto find out those smell on Sensei from that distance, he is almost like that annoying Kiba.' And then came the most natural question at the moment, "Why are you here Naruto?"

"He is here to join us in today's mission," said Asuma with a serious face, "Remember the day you were assigned in this team, the Hokage gave Naruto a position as support for other teams. I chose him as a support for our team."

"Really? You had to choose Naruto?" Ino sounded a bit disappointed, after all Naruto was the deadlast in the academy so she couldn't expect something great from him.

"Now Ino, don't sound that disappointed. You haven't seen his skills yet."

Shikamaru finally gained a bit of interest in the conversation, mainly to find out whether the new member was a drag or not. But as he saw it, Naruto's attitude changed a lot, he might just be tolerable like this. Even though he wanted to contribute to the conversation, it was too much of a hassle to speak, so he closed the one eye he had kept open. And chouji just like always took out another chip from the packet and munched on it.

"Alright Sensei, I will take your word for it. And Naruto, you better not goof around."

"Alright," was all Naruto replied back.

'What's up with him? In the academy if someone even called him weaker than the Sasuke, he would go on a rampage to prove himself stronger, and now he doesn't even look like he cares about what she thinks of him. He surely has changed a lot.' Ino just nodded in approval.

"Alright kids, let's go to the Hokage to get our first mission!"

"Sensei if you keep calling us kids, I might just have to discuss with everyone of your exploits yesterday."

"Alright my genin ninjas, let's march forth to acquire information regarding our first mission!"

Ino smiled in victory. "That's much better sensei."

'So you are gonna make me suffer like that Ino? Alright then, we will see who has the last laugh when we get our first mission."

In the Hokage's office

"Whaaaaaaat!" Ino's yelling wasn't unappreciated by her fellow teammates. Catching cats wasn't she had signed up for when she decided to be a ninja. No, it must be a prank, even the Hokage sometimes needs to have fun right? But right in front of her, that hope crushed to bits as the Hokage's assistant gave them the scroll containing information regarding their assigned mission. Her frown became more profound, to which the smile on Asuma's face widened.

"Let's head to our client to get more information. Anyway Ino, are you excited for your first mission?" said Asuma with a wide smile. The saddening expression of Ino's face was enough of an answer and entertainment for him.

1 hour later near a bush

"Hey sensei, where did Naruto go? Isn't he supposed to be support to our team for this freaking mission?"

"Don't worry about him . Focus on the mission at hand Ino."

"Yeah, but what's the point of having him as support if he doesn't help out in missions?"

"Well he already did, he was the one who smelled out the cat."

"Oh. Wait what! How did he smell out that freaking cat that we can't even keep our eyes on?"

"Ino you will let the cat know of our position!" exclaimed Shikamaru, who was on the verge of giving up on his career after failing to catch the cat five times.

"Sorry Shikamaru."

That was when Asuma spotted the cat approaching. "Ino-Shikamaru-Chouji, get ready!"

"Hai sensei!", said all three genins in unison.

They went on ahead with their plan, as Asuma just sat there, observing their plan unfold. 'In the first five tries, they only tried using physical labor, or individual jutsus. By now they should have realized what they need.' And Asuma was right.

Chouji was the first one to jump in front of the cat as he exclaimed, "Body Expansion Jutsu!". His arms grew gigantic to cover three openings for the cat to escape through , except behind the cat. Instinctively the cat turned back and was about to run, but its body wouldn't budge. Nearby Shikamaru who was holding the ram seal stayed as still as he could. "Shadow Binding Jutsu complete." And at last it was Ino's turn, who made a heart shape with her index and middle finger with both hands and looked at the cat through the opening in her hand. Ino's body fell limp against the tree, as Ino's consciousness entered the cat's. Chouji went ahead and grabbed the cat, and the mission was complete.

'So they figured a way to utilize their jutsus together in just their first mission. I guess it's just in their genes, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were meant to be good at cooperating no matter what the generation is.' "Well, nicely done. So how did you enjoy your first mission?"

Shikamaru was the first person to reply, "Hated it." Chouji nodded in agreement, and Ino, who just woke up, also nodded in agreement.

"Well then let's get another mission! Oh, by the way Naruto, you can come down now."

Ino let out a high pitch scream as Naruto popped out of nowhere and landed in front of her. Well he was on the tree, but no one sensed his presence, thanks to his stealth earned from years of fleeing from ninjas after pranks. "Oi, Naruto! If you can hide that well, then why not just help us out when we couldn't catch the cat!"

"Well, because I thought you guys could do it by yourself."

Before Ino could get more angry at him, Asuma being the adult stepped in, "I told him not to help you unless you needed it. His job is to cover up any fatal mistakes made by our team, and to help us with his manpower any other time."

"Hmmph. Man-power, I don't think he is man enough for that." And she crossed her arms and waited for the reply. It never came. Once again disappointed she spoke, "You are no fun anymore Naruto. You need to at least decline my claim and then we could have an argument."

"Alright Ino, I will do it next time."

"Troublesome blonde."

"Oi, who did you just call troublesome pineapple head?"

"Of course I meant Naruto, he is blonde after all."

"Now my young genins, if your feud is over, do you mind walking to the Hokage's office for our next mission?"

"Yeah, yeah sensei, let's get going."

An Hour Later

"Alright my sweet little genins, let's finish this work in before lunch time!"

"Could you stop calling us kid or little!"

"What a drag. Do you honestly believe that we can clear up all this rubble from this old building and clean it up to create USABLE land before lunch!"

"Sensei, I agree with Shikamaru, I don't want to miss my lunch," said Chouji.

"Well, well. Now is the time to show your manpower Naruto. Get the show going."

"Yes, sensei."

Ino then spoke up, "Well it's alright if it takes us a while, I am on a diet anyway, so I don't mind missing lunch. Anyway Naruto you can take it easyyyyy-" Ino's mouth stayed wide open at the sight in front of her. She was trying to relieve some tension off of Naruto thinking he would be embarrassed if he fails to live up to Asuma's expectation of 'Manpower' from him. But now she wouldn't doubt it. There in front of her stood about 30 Narutos, all running in to remove those rubbles from the building.

"You know what, instead of calling it Manpower, I should call it Men-Power." Asuma was at the point of dropping tears at his own comment. "Get it? Because he turned into more than one man?" He stared at everyone to hear them laugh, but was disappointed. "Oh well, you guys need a better sense of humour."

"Sensei, how is he moving or touching objects with a clone? Bunshins were supposed to be just illusions."

"Yes, Shikamaru, you are right. But he is not doing regular clone jutsu, it's called Shadow clone jutsu. He can produce solid clones."

"How come we never heard of it?"

"Because it is forbidden for regular ninjas, the chakra requirement for even two of those clones might leave you unconscious for the rest of the day."

"Then how can Naruto do so much?"

"Well because he has extremely high level of chakra."

'So that's how Naruto was able to stay up in those fights in academy, even when got beaten up over and over again.' "I see."

"Well I will go and help him then." Chouji expanded his arms into size of a boulder and slammed it through the small walls that remained on the field, and reduced them to small rocks. Naruto's clone got back to work to pick up those rubble.

"Well sensei, they will finish up before lunch, so I will go back to rest then." Asuma didn't mind much, since Shikamaru was of no use in physical labor, just like Ino. So Asuma, and Ino just observed the rest of them do their work, while Shikamaru just slept. And before they knew it Chouji and Naruto was done.

"Sensei we are done over here!"

"Alright Chouji, let's go and get our payment. Then we can head off to get some barbeque!"

The students sure didn't object to it, as Chouji sprinted off to the Hokage's office.

An hour later they stood in front of the store. "Oi, what's your problem? Why don't you want to eat barbeque with us?"

"No Ino, it's just that I have some food at home that will rot if I don't eat them."

"Just come in with us for today."

As Ino pulled Naruto in by his arm they were stopped at the door. "Brat, you are not allowed here." The store owner was a man of large stature. They couldn't even get a glimpse of the store beyond him. "We don't allow troublesome kids in our store."

"What do you mean troublesome! He won't cause any trouble if I am here, so does that solve your problem?"

"No, now do you want to come in or go back with him?"

Asuma had a tick on his head, "Now listen oji-san, I am going to ask for one last time, do you have any problem with letting Naruto come into the store?" Asuma's jounin outfit and kunai in his hand was enough to make him appear to be a threat to any civilian. With the cigarette in his mouth and the scruffy beard, he was the visual depiction of a highly active Yakuza.

But the shop owner simply smiled, "Well can't invite someone to my store if they aren't here."

Asuma looked back to find no trace of Naruto. 'Dad's laws sure did work like a charm, Naruto can't even get food in his belly because of the people, but at least no one's telling him that he is the Kyuubi right?' "Well then we will take our leave. I will be sure to let the Hokage, my D-A-D , know a bit about how well you treated our fellow ninja." Asuma knew it would work like a charm, the spoiled brat act always worked, on him and the others. He had experience with that, especially after having to save the Daimyo and his son's demands while working as part of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas. Nothing is more scary than knowing your pay would get cut off just because you messed with some spoiled brat. Asuma left with a smile as he saw the owner of the store apologizing and begging him to have a barbeque meal at his store. Too bad, he had the time to make his decision earlier. "Well Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, I don't think I'm in the mood for getting lunch from that store. Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"I will pass sensei," Shikamaru said while yawning. Chouji too joined Shikamaru, "I will pass too then." Ino being the last person didn't have any motivation to eat by herself, so her answer was the same.

"Well then I will see you guys tomorrow."

"See ya sensei," said all three in unison.

Thereafter Asuma accidentally managed to 'accidentally' come by the store where Kurenai was eating after finishing the mission. And that's when they started chatting about their students. "So what has your team been up to?"

"Well they are showing excellent teamwork, seems like it probably flows in their genes. Anyway what about your team?"

"Well Shino is doing extremely well to hold the team up with his skills, and Hinata keeps Kiba from getting too wild on the missions. But that girl Hinata, she is still having problems with her confidence. She rarely speaks out over the others, but it's always been that way, for all the years that Hiashi Hyuuga-sama appointed me to mentor her she never changed. Anyway so how is your slacker doing in the team?"

"To be honest, everything is a drag to him, even getting up to do practice drills. But he has the spirit needed for a leader. No matter how much he tries to show he doesn't care, he actually cares a lot about his team." Asuma was exceptionally good at noticing individual attributes and characteristics, which his training depends on. From what he could tell Shikamaru was an excellent leader. Something as simple as allowing Ino to perform Body Switch technique on the already immobilized cat, to allow her to be part of the team, showed how he cared for his team mates. That was what made him exceptional, unlike other ninjas he doesn't have motivation to be great, but only the motivation to be strong enough to protect those close to him when the time comes. "People rarely notice that about him though. It's pretty much the same for the rest of them too. Chouji is actually the strongest ninja on the team. But the only problem I am having is that Ino needs some new techniques to be able to play more vital roles in the team consistently, otherwise she will lose confidence in herself."

"I see, so how is you Support doing?" It was a bitter topic between them, ever since that test. But it slipped through, since Kurenai was genuinely curious.

"Well he's doing fine. He's now getting used to taking abuse from the villagers. But then again, it shouldn't take much time for most people to get used to that, I guess it wouldn't even bother me in a few days." Sarcasm was oozing out in ounces from his voice, his bitterness for the village brought back to him. No matter how long he stayed in the village he couldn't get used to it, used to seeing a child only being abused and hated from his birth to even now. What boiled his blood more was the fact that Naruto was used to such thing, not that it was a surprise. They say ignorance is a bliss, maybe Asuma would have had an easier time if he just turned his eyes away from what was happening just like he used to before. By the time Asuma calmed down, Kurenai didn't respond. Choosing to allow time to be the agent to dissolve the thick air between them, they just sat there in silence.

The cold wind blew through the place, as Ino's hair kept flowing like the grasses and flowers around her. It was the swing in the playground, the place where she met her first friend, also where she lost her first friend. Everyone moves on ahead of her, without even her noticing, ever. Once she used to see Sakura crying, insecure of her forehead, too ashamed to make friends. Now Sakura's confidence dwarfs her's. That lazy Shikamaru who wouldn't do anything but sleep all day, is more of a leader than even Asuma is to team 10. Chouji, whose only hobby was eating, can break boulders after boulders by himself without any problem. Even Naruto the goofball, the deadlast, doesn't act like an idiot anymore. And here she was, just looking at them, never even knowing how people around her changed. Or was it the other way around? Is it because she never strives to change does everyone leave her behind? Yes, all she ever did was follow others into doing whatever they did. She wasted her academy days trying to gather Sasuke's attention, while he moved onto improving himself. While she spent days dieting, chouji spent days building muscles to utilize his body fat. While she spent her days gossipping, Sakura spent them trying to memorize jutsus. While she spent her weekends enjoying pudding, Naruto went onto improve himself as a ninja. Yes, she never tried to improve herself, which is why she was left behind. And she knew it well by now, that without changing her current self, she will never be able to walk aside her friends, who constantly kept moving forward. The friends she knew today, she didn't want to be a stranger tomorrow.

That hour she spent on the swing was what led her to go to her parents to ask for training, which she rarely did.

"Ino-chan, I think you should focus on the training that you already do with the team."

"But dad I want to get stronger!" And that was all that was needed for Inoichi to start training Ino from that day.

**********  
Author's note: I know this was a pretty boring chapter. I didn't want it to be all fights every chapter, so a few chapters will be easy going sometimes. Once again thanks for reading this poorly written fan fic


	5. Chapter 5: Resonating Souls

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Thanks for always reviewing! It really does cheer me up to see people following my writing regularly.

To all the others who wanted an update, here it is!

Thanks to all the others who reviewed. Your reviews make my day,positive or negative.

Anyway we are at Reviews:36, Favs:98, Follows:160. Let's increase that number fast!

I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes.

Also I am extremely sorry for the slow update, had a lot of things going on. School, daily life, and everything else. I was also conflicted on the content of this chapter, but I finally settled and hope the next update will be fast. (probably 1-2 week )

Hope you guys like the story!

Chapter 5: Resonating Souls.

 _"In the ninja world those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash." Kakashi stood there wide eyed, he heard this somewhere before, yes he remembered it. It was Obito, the ninja he respected the most, that said it, he remembered it clear like a day. Why is he hearing it again? He tried to open his eyes, and there he saw him, Obito, crushed under that huge boulder, that was static and humongous in magnitude. 'He pushed me out of the way to save me.' Kakashi in a flash got next to the boulder and started to push it. He pushed and pushed, it wouldn't move an inch. "Why wouldn't this thing move?" Sweat and blood dripped down from his eye and body, his body just couldn't help him anymore. But then he looked down, and when he saw that face crushed underneath the rock, he started pushing again. 'I won't give up. He risked his life for me. Being the captain, I could at least save him from a rock.'_

" _Kakashi, I am going to die…" Obito looked up at Kakashi with a smile, "but, I will become your eye in order to see the future." Kakashi looked down to see the smile on his face. All the words that he heard next were just mumbo jumbos that he couldn't understand. Obito had his hand extended outward, while his only visible eye socket was bleeding and closed. Kakashi couldn't understand what was happening, as he saw Rin do something to him, and he started to see with his left eye again. No he couldn't understand what was going on, but he knew he would never be able to live with himself if he didn't do something. The boulder, how could he remove the boulder, what jutsu did he have that was powerful enough to crush the boulder? Chidori._

 _Kakashi held his right hand low, as it began sparkling. "Kakashi, protect Rin."_

" _No Obito. You will be there to protect her this time." 'Wait what did I mean by 'this time'? Why can't I remember anything?' His body kept moving on his instincts of practicing the jutsu hundreds of times, sparks flew, the air crackled around his hand, and with a swift motion his hand extended into the huge boulder he was running towards. But his vision didn't match the senses from his touch. He didn't feel the solid blow that should have broken his fingers when he ran his chidori into the boulder. He felt a very soft substance mold around his hand, not providing any resistance to his furious jab. He felt his hand being pulled in, like a helpless man stuck in a quicksand, he couldn't back away. In the blink of an eye, he saw in front of him, not the boulder he intended to crush, but a person. Long flowing hair, with marks on sides of the face, and a smile on her face, Rin. He looked down and his hand was drenched in blood. He pulled out his hand slowly, hoping for his eyes to be lying to him, but when his hand left the body, he could feel the warmth leaving his hand, the soft mold of flesh sticking to parts of his hand. It was no illusion, the tears falling from the eyes of the girl, and the soft smile that graced her lip, wasn't a lie. "Kakashi, you know, I always loved you. I'm happy that you are the one that stopped me from becoming a monster."_

 _Kakashi stepped back, Rin's body fell limp on the ground, he took another step back and he tried to look away , but couldn't. The pool of blood from her body reached his feet, "No, No, this can't be happening. I don't accept any of this!" He screamed at top of his lungs. But nothing happened, his scream remained unheard, until he saw Obito walking at a distance. He remembered one thing, 'Protect Rin.' He didn't want Obito to see him with Rin's blood on his hand. Kakashi forced his body to move until he fell face first on the ground near a puddle of dirty water. Kakashi took a breath of relief, as he started to wash his hand of the blood in the pool. But his hand didn't rid itself of the red stain, only the puddle of water turned red and his hand became bloodier than it was. "Why doesn't it wash off?" He started scratching his hand with his fingernails, and soon enough he started biting off his skin, but the blood stain wouldn't go away, his own blood even made it worse. "Why doesn't it wash away!" And then he saw Obito kneeling next to the body of Rin, "Why Kakashi?"_

 _Kakashi remained silent. He didn't know what was going on, he wish he could ask Obito to find out what was going on._

" _I only told you to protect her." No reply. "This isn't the future I wanted you to show me." Obito took the dead body in his arms, and he hugged it close to him. He faced Kakashi as his eyes turned crimson red, and a flower pattern shaped out from there. "This isn't the world I wanted to see!" A flood of blood flowed through the land, as Kakashi sank deeper and deeper in blood, his eyes seeing nothing but blood red, his hands burning, and his body not responsive anymore. The light entering his eyes became darker and darker, until he saw nothing._

The next moment he sat up in his bed and saw the window open next to him. It was raining heavily, and his body was covered in sweat and rain droplets. "I see, another nightmare." When he brought his hand near his face, he found it wet, and tracing it back he realized his eyes were watering. As he took a look at his finger, he realized that his left eye was bleeding. "Not this again."

8 o'clock in the morning.

"So how many times has this happened?"

"I forgot count."

"You still have the option to go get therapy."

"Hokage-sama, I don't need therapy if the cost is to lose the memories that I care about." At this point those memories were all he had, to remind him of the people that were closest to him, the people that cared the most about him, the people that sacrificed the most for him. Those were also the memories of the people that he couldn't protect, people who he betrayed. He couldn't give up those memories, he couldn't afford to make the same mistakes over again, or forget the lessons they taught him, ever again.

"Well, it's your choice, but I am really concerned about your health. You know, your fellow Jounins were the ones to suggest me to assign you a team, but you aren't faring any better than your days in Anbu."

"A few days of rest might help me recuperate."

Sarutobi was about to accept his proposal until he courses his eyes and started thinking deeply. "Well too bad. Somehow I feel your decision is related to the new Icha Icha volume release."

Kakashi's eyes were wide open, the Hokage saw through him clear like a glass, "Hokage-sama, how did you figure it out?" Kakashi couldn't believe that even a mask, a headband covering one eye, and years of his emotionless speeches couldn't defend a single lie.

"Because you never asked for break whenever you had problems with your Sharingan. You only asked for more Anbu missions, to keep yourself busy." Kakashi shook his head, 'No wonder he is called The Professor. Nothing escapes him.' Amidst the serious admiration Kakashi fell flat on his face as heard the Hokage speaking, "Plus, I too am going to the event to get my free copy of the volume." No man was perfect, even the Hokage needed ways to vent his frustrations, and stress somehow.

As Kakashi regained composure he remembered something. "Then I assume Jiraiya-sama will also be here?"

"No, but he will be here for the next release, near the end of next month I believe."

"Isn't that when the Chunin exam will be held?"

"Yes, that is exactly why. We have a new village joining the exam this year, and it was really suspicious how multiple villages demanded the exam be held in Leaf village this year. Jiraiya might just be a good enough incentive for them to not try anything brave."

"Oh I see, I guess I will ask him for an early copy of his novels then."

"I will do the same then, Kakashi."

The room fell in a quiet silence as no one had anything to add to the conversation anymore. Kakashi took the charge, "I will take my leave then Hokage-sama."

"Try to enjoy the day Kakashi."

"Thank you Hokage-sama, I will."

As soon as Kakashi departed, he took the path to the cemetery. He sat down next to the memorial, and just stared at the stone. After few minutes of quietness he started speaking to someone on the memorial as it seemed, "I couldn't sleep again at night, because of those nightmares." To people that would pass by it would seem Kakashi was talking to his friend about his day while drinking Sake together. "Your eyes keep making it worse. It started bleeding once again. And it was also raining outside, and my dumb ass forgot to close the window. So everything got wet." This was not a rare thing, Kakashi would find himself by the same memorial everyday, talking about the most inconsequential and trivial things of his daily lives to his friend, Obito. And it was always after those trivial matters being spoken out, that the one sided conversation would go downhill. "I really didn't want to hurt her." It was a 180 degree turn from topics he was discussing earlier, because now came time for his daily regretting ritual. "She told me to kill her, but I really didn't want to. But it doesn't really matter now, she's dead. I know there's no point of apologizing, or asking for forgiveness. The only thing I can tell is that I would give everything in my life to have you two back, to keep my promise to protect Rin." After a long break, Kakashi changed the topic again just like every other time. "I will be getting a new student today. Handling my three other genins always bored me to death, and now I have a fourth to add to the list. At least he reminds me so much of you and even me, that I don't mind taking him as student."

"Sensei, I don't see how I am similar to you, I don't talk to dead people out loud."

Kakashi opened his dead fish eyes to look to the other side of the memorial and realized the student he was talking about was sitting right across from him. "You are right, I don't remember being an eavesdropper."

"I can't keep sound out of my ears if someone is talking in front of me."

"How much did you hear?" Kakashi's only assurance for being so corny and talking to dead people was that no one comes to memorials early in the morning. But someone was here ruining his apology session.

"All of it, even when you were practicing to say the sentences in order."

Kakashi's pride took a severe hit, a potential leak of this information could ruin his reputation as the coolest ex-Anbu member. "You know, just for my sake you were supposed to say something like 'I didn't hear anything at all sensei' even if you heard the whole thing."

"Well too bad, you were the one who ruined my sleep by starting to talk to your friend."

Kakashi looked at Naruto's face and his eyes looked more like a dead fish eye than his own. 'Guess someone else is having a bit of problem with his sleep too.' "Looks like a nice place to sleep, especially in the rain."

Naruto looked at his own clothing and saw it was drenched in water. "It wasn't any better at home, those broken windows of mine got me and my whole bed wet."

"Naruto-kun you shouldn't be blaming your own mistakes onto the windows. You shouldn't be wetting your bed at this age." Underneath his mask, his lips were stretched wide in a smile.

"At least I don't wet my pants outside being an adult." Naruto pointed to Kakashi's pants.

Kakashi looked down, and looked back up. As if denying reality, he looked down and looked up again and shook his head. He made his hand seals and shouted, "Kai". And nothing changed, letting him know that it wasn't a genjutsu. In front of him was Naruto, with a wide smile. Kakashi then looked at the ground at it was overflowing with water, but Naruto sitting on a higher ground didn't have much water on him. 'I see, he bested me this time, or more like I allowed him to defeat me. But next time it won't happen.' He sat there without saying anything for ten more minutes, since he didn't want to get insulted by a genin anymore. Meanwhile Naruto's grin never grew smaller. Kakashi finally decided it was time for him to meet his team and introduce Naruto as support to the rest of the team. "It's time to go Naruto, team 7 must be at the training ground by now."

"I think they have been there for the last 2 hours."

"Just Shut up and follow me."

"Alright sensei, as long as you don't start talking to yourself again." Kakashi's growing irritation was relieved the moment he took out the Icha Icha novel and immersed himself in it.

They kept walking in relative silence for the rest of the time. Their exchange over the last few hours wasn't a mere co-incidence however, the two antisocial people talking for hours, insulting each other couldn't be a coincidence. A thief knows a thief, as a wolf knows a wolf. It didn't take long for Naruto to figure out Kakashi was suffering just like him, bearing the burden of someone's death. And Kakashi too knew what Naruto was going through, being the reason for your sensei's death isn't something that can let a student ever rest in peace. Maybe that was what made them want to talk to each other, to lighten each other's mood. Naruto didn't want Kakashi to go to the team meeting with a gloomy mood after talking to his dead friend, nor did Kakashi want to let Naruto go in a sorry state of mind to the team meeting right after spending so much time next to his dead sensei, Iruka. They were the only ones that could understand each other's burden, and their relief came in form of insulting each other.

"So what did Asuma teach you so far?"

"Well, he didn't teach me anything yet. He just made me follow his team around in D-rank missions, and he would give me instructions as to how I can help as support to the team."

"Oh, I see. I guess I wouldn't need to teach you about teamwork or support takes off a load from me. Anyway, Hello Team 7!" Kakashi raised his hand to greet his students, none of whom paid any attention to him. "Hello Team 7!" Sakura continued to pester Sasuke, while Sai's drawings gained a few more strokes. "Guess which team is doing only D-Rank mission for the next month?"

The response was overwhelming, as Sakura and Sai said "Hi sensei." And when Sakura gained enough awareness of another person in the field she asked, "Why are you here Naruto?"

"I got lost on my way to home."

"Stop trying to be a smartass. And Sensei what took you so long!"

"Oh, you see Sakura, I was trying to help Naruto find his way to home."

Sasuke spoke over the irritated girl's grunts, "Kakashi-sensei, we don't need a support for our team." To others it might seem that Sasuke was always indifferent to the outside world, but he paid more attention to his surroundings than others, his lack of speech helping his observations. When the Hokage told the class about Naruto's role as a support ninja, he couldn't believe the luck of the dead-last. But he by no means wanted him to show up as support for his own team , "He will just slow down our team, he is nothing but a nuisance."

"Well you wouldn't know until you see him work for the team, now would you?"

"It doesn't matter, he has the lowest scores in academy, how can he help us? Our team is good enough without him." Getting a support for the team was like an insult to Sasuke, it showed that his presence was not good enough for the team. And there was one thing he hated most, well second most considering his brother to be the first, it was to be undermined. In presence of a genius prodigy like Itachi his own brilliance seldom managed to shine. He loathed that feeling of shame and insult when his father would prioritize his brother's whereabouts over him. Now everyone of his clan was gone, but that feeling of inferiority still haunted him. Bringing a support to the team made him insecure of his incompleteness. And if the support for the team was to be the dobe, the dead last of the academy, nothing was more insulting than that.

Sakura up till this moment stayed quiet because she had never seen Sasuke talk this much, it was a surprise. The cool and calm demeanor had worn off of Sasuke, and thus Sakura stepped up to support him. "Sensei, Naruto isn't good at any jutsu other than transformation, I don't think he can help out the team." And Sai just kept drawing as the others spoke.

Kakashi rubbed his temples to stop himself from getting frustrated. "Teamwork, that's where you all lack. Sasuke, working as a team doesn't make you weaker, it just efficiently uses your strength. But you still refuse to work together. Sakura, you are way too focused on Sasuke and helping him out that you never cooperate with Sai. And Sai, you never even try to be a part of the team. Right now you aren't even a team!" Kakashi stopped his lecture a second to see them all looking down in guilt. "I am not calling any of you weak. Sasuke you are one of the most talented ninjas in the last few years, Sakura your chakra control and knowledge is impressive, and Sai your skills and techniques are effective enough to even be on the Anbu force someday. But remember, even though each of you are skilled beyond your years, there are generations of ninjas in this world who have survived through all the battles in the Shinobi War . There are ninjas who have been trained since academy to kill each and every one of their friends to become a ninja. If you ever face them, your individual skills won't increase your chances of living by a bit. The only way to have any chances of survival is to put your strengths together and work as a team. But until you do that Naruto will be here as a support to cover up your mistakes." After a long lecture Kakashi looked up again to see them with more guilt than before. 'I guess that would put a-' His thoughts were cut short as Sai started to talk.

"Sensei, I don't see how Naruto can help us if he doesn't have the skills to do so." And now everyone from team 7 successfully managed to piss off Kakashi in one day.

"Now comes the second part of the problem, unless you have experienced hundreds of battles, you wouldn't know how strong your enemy is no matter how talented you are. Maito Gai, a jounin instructor in this village couldn't even get into academy the same year as me. But he is hailed as the strongest Tai-jutsu specialist in all of Konoha. You can't judge someone's skills based on their academy records. As Naruto is right now, he can definitely be good enough for a support." Kakashi then gave his special eye-smile, "But look on the bright side, there is no loss for you guys. If you guys improve your teamwork Naruto wouldn't have to accompany you in missions. I don't think Naruto would mind that either." Kakashi looked at the blonde boy exhaling a breath of relief. If he had no way out of being a support for those 'special' ninjas, then he surely would have left Konoha.

"Alright sensei," said all three members of team 7 in unison as they vowed to themselves to improve their teamwork.

"Now let's start!" kakashi's clone stayed there with team 7 to train them, while his real self took Naruto into the forest.

"So Naruto do you know why you couldn't do the regular clones even though you can make shadow clones easily?"

"Well, no."

"It is because you didn't have enough chakra control. Since your chakra supplies are so vast, your control needs to be impressive to make regular clones with them. But Shadow clones are easier to make since they do not require great control, even though it drains huge amount of chakra from the body."

"Okayy"

"Today I am going to show you an exercise to improve your chakra control."

"Wait how's that going to help me? I don't need to do the bunshin jutsu now that I know the shadow clone jutsu."

"Improving chakra control would stop you from wasting a lot of chakra every time you do any jutsu. Think of chakra like water falling from a tap into a bowl. You need to fill the bowl to do a jutsu. If you don't have enough control, you will either not fill the bowl to the brim, or you will overflow it. In both cases you will end up wasting chakra. But if you have better control you will be able to conserve your chakra."

"Oh, I get it. So this could help me last longer in a fight."

"Well, if you want to think of it that way, you are right. Now, the exercise we are going to do is called Tree Climbing exercise. We will use chakra under our feet to walk up the tree like this," said Kakashi as he casually walked over to the tree and started walking on the stem, parallel to the ground. His eyes didn't disappoint him as he saw the wonder on Naruto's face. He threw a Kunai near Naruto's feet, "Now run in and try to walk up the tree as far as you can, and use chakra at your feet to stick to the tree. Mark your highest reach using the Kunai. Keep trying until you get to the top."

"Alright sensei, I will be there in no time." Naruto's sprint brought him near to the tree bark, at which point he jumped off of the ground to secure a landing on the tree bark, but no sooner did he touch the tree bark, he flipped and fell flat on his face. Any other day, even without chakra one could run or walk on walls for a few feet simply using their momentum, but today he couldn't get a single inch up the tree, let alone a feet.

"Oh I might have forgotten to tell you, because of the rain in the morning you are going to have a bit of hard time going up the tree, since it's slippery." He took out the novel again from his pouch and started reading it. The longer Naruto took to master the exercise the better, because he really wasn't in the mood to train team 7. All he wanted was to enjoy his novel and rest until he could forget the tiresome nightmares from his sleep. "And don't worry, you can take your time, I'm not in any hurry."

Naruto picked up his head from the mud, and tried to clean his face a little. 'No wonder he came with me, he just wants to read that book for longer while his clone does all the hard work.' Naruto got up and ran straight to the tree again. 'Visualize chakra flowing to the feet, instead of hand, flow the chakra to the feet, to the feet, to the feet.' And his first step this time didn't flip him over to fall on the ground, instead he went to take one more step before he finally slipped on the third step.

"My, my, that was a quick improvement, you're progressing quicker than I thought you would, just like the couple's relationship in this book."

Naruto got up and again, and ran again, every time he managed to move up a bit. But after 5-6 steps he couldn't move up anymore. 20-30 tries later he tried to do something different. He started running to the tree again, but this time he visualized a flood of blue chakra flowing to his legs. As the pressure of chakra built up in his legs, he took the first step on the tree, and *Crack*. The tree's stem had a huge crack in it, with Naruto's leg in between it. "Nice going Naruto, that's one of the first steps to realizing how to do it. If you use too much chakra, you will break into the tree stem, or not be able to move. That's why you need to fine tune your chakra output." Kakashi using hands emerging from the mud broke the tree to allow Naruto to be free. "Alright Naruto, on to the next tree."

"Alright sensei."

Naruto ran up to the tree and this time he decided to reduce chakra output by a huge margin. As soon as he landed a step on the stem, his feet slipped and his legs were forced to stretch out in a split to bear the weight. 'It's always such a joy to watch new students using too little or too much chakra to do this exercise.' Kakashi went back to reading his book as Naruto kept on going. "Try to visualize the flow of chakra in your mind, keep changing the image until you find the one takes you beyond your current highest. Then try to burn that image into your mind for the rest of the exercise."

"Alright sensei," said Naruto as he grunted in pain to stand up. The next hour went by with him trying to run up the tree, sometimes falling way too early, sometimes breaking into the stem. But at one point he managed to find the sweet spot which took him beyond his last highest mark. But then he hit another rock, since he couldn't move past that highest mark. For the next few hours Kakashi lost count of Naruto's retries. At this point Naruto didn't even manage to get to his highest point anymore. Sometimes he would walk up slowly to the tree, sometimes he would jump to the tree stem. Other times he would just sit down and think. By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Kakashi finished his novel. "Naruto, I have to go and gear up with some of my ninja equipments I forgot to bring. So keep practising, alright?"

"Alright sensei."

Kakashi bid his team 7 farewell for the day, got himself some lunch and started reading another volume of Icha Icha novel when he finally realized that Naruto was still in the training ground. He hurried there to find him still practicing the exercise. "Naruto, you are not going to go and get lunch?"

"I am finishing this first." Said Naruto while gasping for breath.

Kakashi watched Naruto fail many more times since then, each attempt more erratic than the one before, never managing to reach the mark he set earlier. But then as he was about to lose interest, Naruto approached the tree like he did with his highest reach, and this time he only short by four- five feet off of reaching the top of the tree. Kakashi's eyes almost bulged out to see him fail miserably for hours to reaching the top in a try. "So you figured out the technique?"

"Yes, I realized earlier that the reason I couldn't walk up the tree was because I didn't change my chakra output based on the situation. I used the same amount of chakra at the bottom of the tree as I did on the top, but at the top of the tree all my momentum from my runup was gone. So I just fell down all the time."

"So that's why you were walking up the tree using slow runups and all those other variations, so that you could get used to the loss of momentum you have, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Pretty good, looks like you might just be able to climb the tree by the end of the day. Well, now go practice, I will do my work then." And that's how Kakashi managed to finish chapters after chapters in one day of training.

By evening Naruto had almost reached the top, failing to control himself enough to stay in control at the top. "Naruto I think that's enough for today. Go home and rest and try to do this exercise whenever you can. It will really help."

"Got it sensei."

After another horrible night of sleep, Naruto went to the training ground to meet Maito Gai, who agreed to train him. However as soon as he stepped on the ground he felt the ground shake. In front of him a blur of orange and green passed by almost blowing away him and all the leaves on the tree nearby, as the giant rocks lying on the ground started cracking one after the other. By the time Naruto knew what was going on, all the rocks were broken, the leaves that were falling from the breeze finally reached the ground.

Naruto looked behind him and saw a boy getting up from a fighting pose and look at him. "Good morning fellow ninja! I am Rock Lee, please identify yourself and your reason for being here."

For a minute Naruto kept quiet, not knowing what to say. The ferocious display of speed, superhuman agility and incredible body strength, but most importantly those Eyebrows took away his speech. Finally gaining back his thought process on track Naruto replied, "I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I am here because Gai-sensei told me to come."

"Oh I see, then you must be the one Gai-sensei wanted to train!" said Rock lee while strapping on some more weights onto the ones that he already had on his legs.

"Oh yeah, that's me. "

"Naruto-kun would you mind having a spar with me? I really want to test the strength of the new leaf that Gai-sensei would nurture!"

It was almost impossible to decline an offer like that, especially when the person making the offer sounds so excited about it. "Well, but are you going to fight with your weights on?"

"Yes, it's part of the training regiment Gai-sensei made for me."

"I see, then let's get started, I too want to fight against someone as strong as you."

"Yosh!"

As the two took their stances and ran in towards each other, they were stopped by loud yelling. "Stop both of you!" Both came to a stop, Naruto tumbling and falling on his face.

"Oi, what's your problem!" Naruto coughed out a bit of dirt from his mouth, as he picked himself up from the ground.

"Don't go off starting a fight right after coming here to train!"

"Who are you?" Naruto replied while wiping his face.

"Naruto-kun, that's Tenten, my teammate."

"Lee, could you not be so enthusiastic about fighting with someone just after meeting them?"

"Sorry Tenten, I couldn't control myself when I heard Gai sensei's praises of him."

"Really? Gai-sensei praised me?"

"Yes Naruto-Kun! He told me that you would be my perfect rival!"

"Both of you calm down, Neji is coming soon, Gai-sensei would be late because of some mission. Anyway Naruto, it's nice to meet you. So are you a tai-jutsu specialist too?"

"No, infact it is my second weakest skill, right next to genjutsu."

"So you are really good at nin-jutsu then?"

"I can do a few jutsus, if that counts."

"Stop lying to yourself dead-last." The voice interrupted Tenten and Naruto's conversation. As Naruto looked behind him, he saw a boy with long hair tied in a ponytail, and eyes as pale as his skin. "Gai-sensei probably made another mistake in choosing to train you."

"Neji, don't be so mean!" As the only calm headed person, Tenten had to be the one to solve most of the problems in the team, and even now she had to be the one to keep each person in check. "People do change, and Gai-sensei must have seen his skills before taking him in."

"I am just stating the truth, nothing more. He was failure in academy, and no one can change in a few weeks. He even failed the graduation test, if what I heard was true. I don't think he should even be a ninja."

Naruto finally spoke up, "Yes I was a failure in academy, and I was more than incompetent, and I probably am even now. But I know I can change myself, to be stronger, to be better. And no, I failed the test at first, but Iruka-sensei passed me later on."

"People don't change like that, your future is already laid ahead of you, and the path you walked so far will lead you to your future. Once a failure, you will always stay a failure."

"We choose which path we take."

"Iruka-sensei definitely didn't choose the path of death, did he? No one chooses their path, you die how you were born, against your will."

"Neji, that's enough!" shouted Tenten, but now there was no going back.

"Iruka-sensei didn't die against his will! He died protecting the village. He chose his death." Naruto's voice was trembling, yes Iruka chose his own death, to save Naruto. Iruka's death wasn't fate and nor was his sacrifice a coincidence.

"Were you there when it happened? No. He died as a weakling, unable to conquer his opponents, unable to protect himself, because that's the path his life was walking. A life of a weakling, who never even moved beyond a chunin. He was never destined to be bigger than tha-" His pale eyes widened, as veins popped out near his temples, activating his Byakugan on instinct. The fist that was closing in extremely fast, was suddenly grabbed by a pair of bandaged hands, and Naruto was thrown over to a tree by Lee.

"Move out of my way Lee! I don't want to fight with you, I need to knock some sense into someone!" Naruto was breathing heavily, anger visible clear through his face, his hands closed into a fist tight enough to draw blood from the nails dug into the skin.

"No Naruto-kun. I will not move as long as you don't calm down."

Neji would have gone up to accept Naruto's challenge, but Tenten's glare shut him down.

"I don't care, I will beat him up today, if that's the last thing I ever do."

"If that is what you want, then fight against me. You can not beat him as you are right now."

Before Naruto could protest Rock Lee was infront of Naruto and his knee was dug deep into his belly. Naruto's eyes almost bulged out and he lost contact with the ground, as his feet lifted from the force of the blow, Another roundhouse kick from Lee sent him straight to the tree, a long distance away from Neji. Naruto was trying hard to get up, but he couldn't. He used his hand to pull on a branch and pull himself up, when Lee jumped in front of him. "Naruto-kun, please don't do this." Lee's hands were trembling too, he didn't want to fight Naruto. "I know how you feel, I can't stop my fist, my fist wants to knock some youth into his skull too. But I mustn't! And you mustn't either!"Naruto sat down, he had no idea what Lee was talking about, but he knew he wanted to help Naruto. "I was a failure too, but I worked day and night, following Gai sensei's youth to train my body to this point. But I have never earned a win against him in a battle. If you lose your temper, you can not win against him. If you can not win against me, he will defeat you without fail. Trust me, I do not want you to be hurt by my teammate, and Naruto-kun, I do not want you to lose to him." Naruto listened to Lee quietly, knowing that he only meant him good. After a minute of silence, Naruto calmed down. " I am sorry for my outburst, and thank you for stopping me Lee. But I still can't guarantee that I won't do the same the next time I see him.

" Naruto-kun, please forgive him for his rudeness. I know Iruka-sensei means a lot to you, and I would be angry too if I were you and Neji said that. But he didn't mean it like that, he was sad too when Iruka-sensei died. I am sure that it was not his true-self back when he said that. So please forgive him this time."

"You don't need to apologize Lee, it's fine."

"THANK YOU NARUTO-KUN! You are such a youthful person!"

The next moment Gai-sensei was standing next to them, crying with them, "Both of you are such youthful person! Your youth overjoys me! You two are the perfect rivals and companions for each other!"

And that is how the rivalry between Gai and Kakashi was passed down to Lee and Naruto.

Author's note: Sorry once again for the late update. NEXT update will definitely be faster, and next chapter we will be going into a new arc! This last few chapters were just introductory, but next chapter will mark the beginning of an arc, so stay tuned!


	6. Chapter 6: Smile For Me

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

Noahendless and Shadow Shinobi 666:Thank you!

Facebreaker17: Yup I tried my best to make him a bit of an asshole.

Antex-legendary Zoroark: Thanks for always reviewing! Appreciate it a lot!

Inarealpickle: Thanks for pointing out my mistake, please continue on doing so, I will be fixing my mistakes whenever I have time :) .

To all the others who wanted an update, here it is!

Thanks to all the others who reviewed. Your reviews make my day,positive or negative. Anyway we are at Reviews:46, Favs:117, Follows:200. Let's increase that number fast! I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes. Also I am extremely sorry for this slow slow update. I had a lot of exams and work due before this. Took me more than a freaking month to update :'( Next time it won't happen, especially with summer vacation coming. Hope you guys like the story!

Anyway a lot of things would be going on in this chapter, especially since this is the longest chapter so far. A bit of NaruIno in this chap :) .

Chapter 6: Smile for me

His life surrounded the faith that his fate has his life written like a mere story, never any event in his life contradicts that story, and never the ending shall contradict what the story foreshadowed. A story, that's what human life is, just an unchangeable story that fate creates. His father Hizashi Hyuuga, just a character whose story was meant to end with disgrace. Hyuuga branch family, destined to be slaves to the main family. The main family, destined to be slaves to the village. His own destiny was sealed, his exceptional talents all just reserved for service to the main family. The thought of his destiny being in his hands were not even amusing to him anymore.

"Gai Sensei! I am eternally grateful to you for choosing Naruto-kun as my rival! I have utmost faith he shall inspire me to reach the pinnacle of my strength!"

Neji just scoffed as he looked down at the ground, at those ants that lay flat and mangled in their bodily fluids right on top of Neji's footprint. Those ants lay there as proof to Neji's words. Countless hours of food collection to survive the winter, but their lives ended in the summer underneath someone's footstep. Fate or destiny made this cruel end to their story. Anyone who wanted to deny it, such as his team mate Lee, made him feel pity. But it was unnerving for him to even look at the blonde boy that he just had a scuffle with. Everything about him ticked him off. He will become the Hokage? A ninja worthy of being Hokage wouldn't fail the academy exam, not once, nor twice, and definitely not three times. Neji graduated a year earlier than Naruto and the members of team 7,8 and 10. But as academy student he remembered Naruto as the one who everyone teased for being the deadlast for failing the graduation exam and yet claiming to be the Hokage. It was not a surprise to him when he found out that Naruto failed for the third time this year. What was surprising was that Naruto still got a headband, and the standard ninja gossips speculate that Naruto was there the day Iruka died. But regardless, Naruto is still the dead last he remembered, and it will stay the same in the future.

"Neji, that was not nice at all!" Tenten's lecture was almost near its end.

"What others think of my behaviour doesn't concern me much."

"I give up." Tenten walked away from Neji, knowing she didn't have the ability to set him straight.

Neji was trying to ignore his surroundings, and everything else, because one thing was bothering him at the moment, it was not his thoughts on fate or the stupid talks of his teammates, but the memory of what happened a few minutes ago. Since then all his senses were sharpened to the point that he could even sense the ants crushed on the ground that he would have at other times not been able to spot without his byakugan. The reason he was on the edge, ready to attack or defend at any moment, was because he felt fear, he was afraid of the blonde boy. When he tried to activate his byakugan for defense from Naruto's incoming fist, he saw what made him fear for his life, a body filled with red chakra flowing from the abdomen of the blonde boy, and fierce red eyes glowing with hatred.

"By the way Gai-sensei, I thought your team didn't have training today."

"Naruto my boy! These students are in the springtime of their youth, which they want to utilize to the fullest extent! Even though they have a day off, they would spend it preparing for the approaching Chunin exams."

"Oh I see."

"Naruto, I am really sorry for what Neji said, I know he must be regretting saying that too." Tenten said as she walked up to Naruto.

Naruto took a look at the man who was supposed to be regretting his actions, but the sharp glare from him made him shudder. 'What a regretful face.' "It's alright, don't worry about it."

"I will make sure he doesn't do something like that the next time."

"Thank you, Tenten."

Gai interrupted their conversation, since he was getting impatient, "Naruto, I think it's time for you to receive some training! Lee, please have a tai-jutsu spar with Naruto."

"Alright sensei!" Both Lee and Naruto shouted in unison.

Naruto and Lee moved a few meters away from each other, and as soon as they heard Tenten shout start, they ran in really fast towards each other. Naruto was the first one to charge and attack, as he without any footing tried to punch Lee, but his fist was directed off course with a chop from Lee's right hand, and his momentum kept him moving forward with his lack of footing ensuring he would fall face first on the ground. Lee capitalized on the situation by latching onto Naruto's left arm to put him in a deadlock. However the moment Lee grabbed Naruto's arm he saw the world around him spin, as Naruto twisted his upper body with speed great enough to throw Rock Lee to a distance. Naruto fell on his butt as Lee landed softly on his two legs. "Yosh Naruto, you are indeed capable!"

'I can't get anywhere close to his speed.' "You are no pushover either Lee." Naruto took a while to get off the ground, during which Lee didn't move forward to attack him for the sake of youth and spirit. As soon Naruto got up, he shifted his focus to his smell, hoping to use it to track Lee in case his eyes fail. 'Alright, just have to dodge his hands.' This time Lee was the one to charge, but before Naruto could see his fist, he felt it make contact with the side of his chest. And then with Lee holding onto Naruto's left arm with his left, Naruto had no option other than to swing with his right. But once again Naruto failed to make contact with Lee's body, as his captive left hand was used to throw him off balance, down to the ground.

"Sensei, don't you think you should stop them? I mean Lee is beating him to the ground already."

Gai didn't reply to Tenten's question for a while since he was too busy observing the spar. Naruto got up again and soon enough he met the earth again. Lee's speed and strength was simply unmatchable by Naruto's agility and puny body. Gai finally found it in himself to avert his eyes from the one sided spar to answer her questions, "Do not worry. Naruto is an extremely capable ninja, it's going to take a lot more to knock him out."

"Alright sensei. But now what is he doing sitting around like that in middle of a fight?"

"Things are about to get interesting Tenten."

Naruto was sitting on the ground thinking. "Naruto-kun, are you going to give up?"

"Nope, just thinking." Lee took a breath of relief, knowing that his rival is not a quitter. After about a minute, Naruto got up. Once again he charged forward, his swing with his right hand was blocked by Lee's left.

However Lee was surprised to see that Naruto just grabbed onto Lee's left arm with his right. Before Lee could knock Naruto down with his right hand, he barely saw the punch coming from Naruto's left arm, which he managed to dodge even though his motion was limited due to his left hand being locked with Naruto's right arm. Lee freed his locked hand, and jumped back in surprise.

Naruto started once again, charging in carelessly, and this time again his first punch was dodged. Lee moved to Naruto's left in a flash, but his roundhouse kick didn't cause any damage to Naruto since Naruto already grabbed onto his legs. Lee using his agility, kicked Naruto with his free leg to stop Naruto from throwing him to a distance.

'How is he reading my moves so easily? Most of the time he is not even looking at me!'

'I can't stand up to Lee's strength, even by knowing where he is going to strike next I can't stop him. He's just too fast.'

Both charged in towards each other, and this game of trying to best each other continued. Neither Naruto, nor Lee slowed down a bit since they started. However after viewing Lee's fast movements carefully, to Naruto it almost seemed like Lee was slowing down. Not only that, Lee almost had a pattern to his movements, that seemed to flow like a gusty wind, like a whirlpool. When he is knocked back, his body would glide around in a circle around the target until an opening is found. And just like the Whirlpool's tail, Lee's legs gave sense to his movements. Even though Naruto's eyes couldn't see the movement of his whole body, he could for a few times predict what Lee was going to do next by looking at his legs.

Naruto kept attacking Lee over and over, and they would both miss most of the times. While Naruto's body was facing a bit to the right, he twisted his upper body for a punch that would miss Lee. Lee once again tried to punch Naruto, but Naruto's moving upper body rotated to the side and dodged the punch. Unlike Naruto, Lee didn't fall over after missing his target, since he had great footing. But Naruto capitalized on the fact that Lee would not topple over to free the twist on his torso to kick Lee with great speed. Lee was knocked a good few meters away from Naruto.

Naruto was partly grateful to the hits he had taken from Kakashi during the exam. He picked up a lesson that was vital in his fight with Lee. If you can't figure out what your opponents are going to do, make them do whatever you want them to, that's how Naruto named this lesson in his head. He remembered well how Kakashi would intentionally leave parts of his guard open, so that Naruto would create clones to hit those blind spots, and be destroyed since that's exactly where Kakashi knew the clones would be. This tactic worked on Lee too, whenever Naruto would leave his guard open after an attack, Lee would attack that opening. However that's why Naruto had to keep attacking, otherwise Lee wouldn't fall for it.

Fists collided, blows were exchanged, but no one seemed like losing anytime soon. Naruto kept taking hits, while dodging a few. Lee was never on the receiving end of the hits, since he managed to dodge most of Naruto's attack, other than Naruto's counter. Naruto's counter left him puzzled as to how he could sense his movements so fast. But then the thought came to his mind, what if they are not sensed at all? Naruto wasn't even looking at his fists when dodging to go for the counter. "Yosh Naruto-kun! I think I figured a way to beat you!" At a distance Gai sensei smiled in joy, while Tenten shook her head.

Lee and Naruto ran towards each other, but this time Lee led a few vicious blows one after another at Naruto. Naruto left his guard open in different spots but Lee wouldn't abide, he just kept punching his way through. Naruto kept blocking, dodging while moving back to the trees.

Then Lee's barrage stopped, in a flash he was gone, the leaves rattled by the wind of his movement. One tree to another, his movements were fast like a flash. People could even call him the green flash. But just like the Whirlpool, Lee kept moving around Naruto in a circle through the trees. Predicting the next tree that Lee was going to land on, Naruto ran up to the tree. But all of a sudden Lee's leg came in proximity to kick Naruto from his back. Naruto dodged the kick, but Lee was too fast for him catch or stop. Lee just kept jumping, from tree to tree, this time the attack came from Naruto's left, which Naruto hadn't guarded well. Once again Naruto dodged. Lee kept on going. Lee kept moving forward to kick Naruto while he dodged. But over time it kept getting faster and faster. Naruto couldn't even recover from his own attacks before Lee jumped towards him. 'I can't even see him anymore. I can't keep continuing like this. I have to get hit if I want to hit him back.' Naruto stopped moving and that was when Lee kicked his abdomen, almost sucking all the air out of Naruto's body. But before attending to that hit, Naruto turned backwards, 'Checkmate'. Naruto flew his fist, as he hoped Lee's momentum would would bring his body faster into his fist, knocking him out.

Naruto's punch connected to Lee's stomach, but his rock like build combined with his high velocity broke through Naruto's strength, as his fist deformed, and Lee's knee knocked out Naruto's head. A sledgehammer hitting someone's face was the feeling Naruto got, before he saw the world becoming dizzy and vague for the next few minutes.

"Na-ru-to!"

"Narutooo!"

Naruto finally responded to the new emerging bodies in his vision, "Yeuh, whosthisbright-" It didn't take long for Gai and the others to realize that Naruto wasn't unconscious, but his words should be disregarded until he gained full control of himself.

Sure enough Naruto was talking in human language soon enough. "Ah I think I lost, didn't I?"

"Well my boy, you only lost a battle not the war, don't lose confidence!"

"Yeah, I guess so Gai sensei."

"Are you alright? Can you move your jaws freely?"

The few crackling noise when Naruto started moving his jaw would've startled anyone, not just Gai sensei. "Yeah I'm fine, just a bit stiff."

"Such mental fortitude! You are magnificent Naruto-kun!" Lee held no bitterness for any of his opponents ever, he was a man to think with his fists stronger than steel and a heart bigger than himself. "That was an excellent fight! Even though Tai-jutsu isn't your fortitude, you still had me troubled."

"Well you didn't even take off your weights while fighting me. And I am quite sure you didn't use your special moves against me either."

"How did you know!" Lee was having a freaky day so far, his opponent, Naruto was reading one after another one of his abilities and tricks without even knowing him well enough.

"Well because, Tai-jutsu specialist are supposed to kick ass in Tai-jutsu right? So you must have had some special moves."

"I see, you are really intelligent Naruto-kun. As much as I would like to allow this youthful conversation to go on, I must go ahead with my plans for training you."

"Yes sensei, I understand."

"Now, Lee, I will start with you. You made me proud! Even though Naruto isn't adept at Tai-jutsu, you must have noticed his ability to adapt to your fighting. With enough training he can also be a formidable Tai-jutsu opponent. So keep defeating him, don't let him have an inch over you."

"Yes sensei!" Lee could barely contain his tears of joy at being praised by his sensei, and Gai was trying his best to not cry in joy watching the youthful rivalry bloom in front of his eyes.

"And Naruto, you have exceeded my expectations. You must have trained a fair bit after the exam, your performance speaks for it. Your reflexes, agility and thinking is on point! You need to work on your stance and technique. Stance and technique take years to perfect and can only be maintained with a body that is strong enough. So we will start your training with some strength training."

"Oh alright."

"Now strap on those weights to your body and run 20 laps through the village."

"Eh?" Naruto wasn't sure if Gai-sensei was joking or not, but he seemed serious as hell, so Naruto began running. Tenten on the side felt pity for Naruto, 'So he has to take the Lee route to training, well that's really sad for him.'

As Naruto started running, he saw no trace of Neji in the whole ground, which he was glad for. He didn't want to see that face that spoke such insults regarding Iruka-sensei. Last time he almost lost himself, because with every fibre of his being he wanted to rip apart that arrogant Hyuuga, limb by limb, until he had realized that he died for his own mistakes, not fate. Next time Lee might not be there to stop Naruto, and he didn't want to have those murderous thoughts anymore. But he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment, he needed to finish the race without spraining few of his muscles.

Even he himself didn't expect to finish the 20 laps around the village, but he was glad that he succeeded, and that Gai sensei was waiting for him to finish at the training ground even though it was dark all around. A youthful speech with some heavy praises and optimism followed, and with the exchange of a few training tips, they bid each other farewell. Naruto barely made it into the house before the weights, his shaky muscles and gravity forced him down onto the floor. The soft snoring coming from Naruto went to show how tired he was to fall asleep the instant after falling on the ground.

Days passed with the same monotonous missions and training dictating Naruto's life. Finally it was another weekend for Naruto, however this didn't mean a difference to him. It wasn't like he could go to places with his friends or family anyway, weekends only meant that he could train by himself on this day instead of relying on others to train him.

'One step at a time, adjust to any extremities, one step at a time, adjust to any extremities' the same two lines kept circling Naruto's mind as he took rapid steps up the tree, while confirming that he was not letting himself slip or stick to the tree. The books really did do wonders, even though he didn't like reading them he appreciated their presence. His clones just recently found out that tree climbing is easier to do on trees that are not soaking wet, and that the key is to remember to build muscle memory for quick responses, and quick thinking to track what obstacles are to come. A few hours later, he didn't need to think anymore, as now he could walk up and down the tree while thinking of Ramen. Hours and hours of work done and now he could walk on his hands on the tree, although not always did his face have a safe landing while messing up a handstand. With a mildly swollen face, exhausted body and hunger only for Ramen, Naruto left the training ground.

"So you are taking your students to the barbeque? I was also planning to go the barbeque!" Naruto could recognize that voice anywhere, let alone the smell of the red lipstick, it was the genjutsu mistress Kurenai.

"Oh really? What a surprise! I guess it was a good thing I chose to go to the barbeque with my team today!"

While Asuma was laughing nervously, trying to put his best act on, the girl next to him just sighed in disappointment. 'If you are going to meet Kurenai sensei, at least make a more believable situation !' "Sensei, isn't Naruto going to come?"

"I tried to find him, but he was not at home, neither at the training ground. You know what? I think you should look for him."

"Why do you want me to do all the hard work for you!"

"You can't expect Shikamaru to run an errand, and Chouji, I think he would want to take the fastest route to barbeque."

"How am I supposed to know where Naruto even goes!" Ino hesitated for a bit after saying that . 'I thought I knew more about him, he's in our team, at least most of the days. How do I not know of it?' She heard Asuma saying some gibberish after which Ino shook her head of her thoughts, she needed barbeque for now, not a headache. "What did you say sensei?"

"I said that the store will get packed if we don't hurry."

"Sensei, can you pick a store closer to us? It's such a drag to walk this far."

"Shikamaru, it's just a 15 minute walk. Look even Chouji doesn't mind."

Naruto stopped walking. From even a distance of 100 feet, he could see the whole team clearly, they looked like a family. The parents guiding their three children to a barbeque after a hard week of work. That's what the families did in the movies, he always wanted to know if family dinners were that good, because no child could fake a smile as beautiful as that.

'Pathetic'.

Naruto froze in his step, was that his own thought? He looked at the group of shinobis that he was following, and realized that it did indeed look like a family, a packed family. They know each other quite well, if what he heard was correct then Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji have known each other even before academy due to their family ties. Asuma knew Kurenai more than anyone else. They were a team and friend to each other. What was Naruto to them? He wasn't even part of their team, let alone a friend who would talk to them regularly. He was a support ninja, bound by his position to help them out, nothing more. Just like how Mizuki was bound to teach Naruto in academy, they are bound to share the same sensei's lesson. Eventually Naruto could see no more traces of Asuma's team, nor their voices were picked up by his sharp ears. 'What was I even thinking? Ichiraku's ramen is good enough for me, I don't need barbeque.'

"What is he looking at like that?" Naruto looked around him to see who was talking about him, he spotted a few cranky old ladies walking side by side, quite a distance away from him. "Don't talk about him, he might hear you!" 'Oh, it's just their usual talk,' he kept heading back to his home. "He just gives me the creeps when he doesn't vandalize the whole village, as if he is waiting for something even bigger." It was nothing new, he had heard those villagers talk about the same things even before. "Some people say that the latest death of the chunin in the village had his involvement." Even he himself wondered, how do they find things to talk about him? They should have definitely ran out after these 12 years. "It just boils my blood when he fakes knowing nothing of what he did that day. One day when I kicked him out of our store he even dared to ask me why I did that!" Naruto started moving faster than before, he couldn't even run and jump on top of buildings with the new training weights he was wearing. 'I wish I could remember you old hag, out of all the people that kicked me out all these years.' He remembered how he wanted to gain the attention of the villagers when he was young by doing pranks, fearing that no one would remember him when he died. He only now realized that he always had their attention, only that the type of attention he wanted wasn't in them to give to him. They would remember him to hate him. No matter how much he wanted to be forgotten now, he knew they will never forget him. Each step he took brought him closer to someone saying something worse about him than the person before. He heard these words from so many people before, but why is it now that he began to listen to each of them separately? He himself had no answers. But unlike before now it was different. 'I don't know why, but it really does hurt more when they remember me like that.' Finally he saw the door to his safety, the only place around which people try to ignore most of their day, his home. He fell down on his couch, once again having nothing to eat for dinner, and not feeling the need to do anything before night. 'I wonder what it feels like to be forgotten. Maybe it will be better than being remembered by these people.'

The alarm clock lay there on the table, shining brightly in the morning sunshine, especially with no damage taken by it recently. A few months ago the clock would be bruised and dented everyday, especially with Naruto hating the noise of the alarm clock. But with his new sleeping pattern, Naruto barely got to sleep until sunrise, leaving the clock in a state of peace. His day-off yesterday was now over, and his second with Asuma's team began. He left early once again, empty on his stomach. 'Ichiraku should be open by now.'

In the training ground, Ino arrived to a scene which had become habitual for her. Shikamaru sleeping under some shade, chouji eating chips next to him, and Naruto sleeping under some tree at quite a distance. Asuma's arrival woke up Naruto, and Ino forcefully pulled Shikamaru up to standing a brief exchange of greetings, the jounin got straight to business, "We have a lot of tedious D-rank missions to do over the next few days. With the chunin exam coming the Hokage really wants the village to be neat and tidy, and fit for the visitors to rest during their stay. Anyway let's get going." Asuma was about to walk off by himself, there was too much to do in one day in all honesty, but his students didn't seem to be in tune with him. "Oh and Ino, be sure to wake up Shikamaru and tell him whatever I told you. I will go ahead to the Hokage's office to get the mission briefing. Don't be too late."

"What a drag. Can we just wait here?" The glare directed at him obviously meant a no. "Alright."

The mission briefing was simple and straightforward, cut down and clear a bunch of trees near the stadium and put some fences around the park. But their eyes almost bulged out when the bunch of trees turned out to be more than over 20, and worst of all most of them died recently because of the concrete base of the stadium restricting their water supply and reach.

"No wonder the stadium staff didn't want to clear this by themselves. Cause it's not a bush, it's a freaking forest!" It wasn't the size that bothered Shikamaru, it was rather the lack of ideas in his head that frustrated him. Asuma had his own hands full having to get materials and cleaning up the area where the tree stems are supposed to be placed. Plus Asuma was supposed to allow the genins to work themselves, for the sake of their growth. "I don't think there is any simple way out of this one. We have to cut it using axes, and then pull out the roots."

Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji and about 50 shadow clones of Naruto got to work. Not much happened until one of the trees that Naruto was working on, almost made a landing on top of Chouji after dispelling close to 10 of Naruto's clones. Chouji was saved thanks to the interlocking branches that jumbled up all the trees in a puzzle. If you cut one tree, another one of the other trees might fall down instead, injury was almost inevitable.

"Naruto, you need to slow down and think before going crazy."

"Yeah, I'm sorry." For some reason his mind wasn't working like it did before. Not making elaborate plans wasn't something he did in the last few weeks. But today he just didn't want to spend time thinking. He felt really out of place near this team, almost unnecessary.

"Alright, we need to find a way to fix this." Shikamaru found a good view of the trees at a distance from the wreckage. 'Chouji has enough strength to break those trees by himself at this point. But, it's too dangerous there, he can't even see which way the tree is going to fall, although I can see it from a distance.' That's when Shikamaru's idea clicked into place, "Chouji go ahead and use your expansion jutsu and knock those trees down."

"Alright Shikamaru, got it."

And Shikamaru was correct in his estimate, with just two punches, Chouji knocked over one tree. "Oi Chouji run! The tree is falling!" Naruto yelled aloud to warn chouji of the tree that was falling down from the knots of branches down towards him. Chouji was shouted a scream of fear, even in his expanded form, a tree on top of him was going to hurt. But the tree never made impact with him, as he looked up to see that he had, without even thinking, evaded the tree into an open space.

"Success." Chouji looked at Shikamaru who at a distance was holding the seal for his Shadow Imitation technique. Even though Chouji had no idea where the tree was falling from, Shikamaru could see it clear as a day, and maneuvering Chouji out of the tree's landing spot was quite easy for him.

'I see, they really do understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. Guess that's what it means to be a team.' Naruto pondered in his thoughts, while Shikamaru and Chouji continued knocking down more and more trees, quite safely, down to the ground.

After they were finished with knocking down the trees, came the turn for the roots to be taken out of their shelter in the ground. Shikamaru commanded to his team, "Ino use your earth release to divide the ground, and Chouji will pluck the roots. Naruto you carry the roots and the tree stems to the open place there using your clones."

"Alright!" They didn't even feel the need for Asuma's presence by now, they were more than prepared themselves to stay on task.

Ino was first one to go. Naruto was really confused when Shikamaru told Ino to use Earth release. 'What does he mean?' But his questions weren't to be long lasting, since Ino gave a demonstration in front of his eyes. Going close to the tree root she wove some complicated hand seals and slammed down hard on the ground using the palms of her hands, "Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide". Not to the point that Naruto's jaw would be left open, the jutsu did leave a trace of astonishment in Naruto's face. 'I thought she started learning that not more than two weeks ago.' The ground was split in two, not quite like Moses splitting the ocean, but the 1 feet deep and 1 meter long split on the ground allowed Chouji to get his hands in and pick up the roots without much resistance. Dead trees didn't have that strong of a grip to the ground, especially when the ground is already split open.

"Naruto, are you gonna carry the trees and roots or are you just going to watch?" Shikamaru might have leadership skills, but the real authoritative demands were always made by Ino. Naruto spent no time to start working with his clones to carry the trees. "Oh by the way Shikamaru, don't you think you should help him out too?"

"What a drag."

After about another 2 hours, all the roots were plucked. The boiling heat of the sun didn't allow the group to work without a hitch, especially Chouji and Ino, one overheating due to body fat, the other running out of usable Chakra for the elemental release. 'If only I had a bit more Chakra I could have done it so much faster, especially with my control.' Ino wiped the sweat from her forehead, and for the last few hours the scene of the blonde army working like a troop to mobilize the tree remainders just exhausted her. She couldn't even think of how he could manage to do so much work in this heat, after using chakra to create that many clones. Soon after he finished transporting the trees, he even engaged himself in flattening the land that they tortured the whole day for the tree removal job.

"Yo kids, are you ready for the next two missions?"

Asuma's sudden arrival didn't matter to anyone, since they were more concerned with the fact that they might just have to bear the tyrant heat for 2 more missions. "No sensei, we are not."

"Oh you students are so enthusiastic. Okay, to make it faster, we will split up in two groups. Ino and Naruto in one group, Shikamaru and Chouji in another one. I will be communicating with you all to make sure that you stay on task.

"We did stay on task without you for half the day already sensei."

"I was always monitoring you, my young pupils. I will never leave my students without guidance."

"Sensei, *munch* woulbnt ib be bwetta if we wak togatha as a team?" Chouji's appetite took priority over manners at desperate times like now.

"Yes, it would be ideal to work as a whole team, but for the sake of time I will be dividing you up."

"We are not in any hurry sensei." Shikamaru already knew what was going on, but he decided to protest, since he wanted to work in a group to work the least, and also to piss Asuma off.

"Just shut up and do the work, or I will complain to your mother." Asuma had an important date to go to, and he would go to any lengths to not be late. Shikamaru didn't object any further once he saw the frustrated look on Asuma's face. "Anyway, Ino and Naruto, go to the playground and put up the fences where the white lines are drawn. Shikamaru and Chouji will go to return the cows that just started going wild today because of the heat." Shikamaru's shadow imitation and binding was perfect for immobilizing big animals, and Chouji's strength meant overpowering the animals wouldn't be a problem. Ino and Naruto has enough jutsus and Manpower, no Army power to fix the fences in a flash. 'I will most likely stick to watching over Chouji and Shikamaru, crazy cows can be quite nasty.'

"Alright sensei!" The groups separated and headed their own ways.

The playground was indeed a sight to behold. The fences were all broken down, while the ones that remained were used as testing ground for the kids that laid many kicks and ninja moves on the fence to compare their strengths. 'What a pain in the ass.' Naruto looked around and found the replacement fences laying on the ground to be placed back on the playground boundaries. "So, can you do that earth splitting thingy again?"

"No."

"Why not? It's going to take way too much time to do it by hand."

"Oi, don't tell me what to do! Only Sasuke-kun gets to tell me what to do!"

"Oh, okay."

Ino didn't care much about what Naruto told her to do, she just wanted to make him angry, for fun or out of curiosity she didn't know herself. His outbursts were becoming more of a momento, since his composure just made him feel strange, and not the person she knew in academy."You just ruined the fun. Anyway I am going to try to use that water over there to make the ground over here wet. I have better control over water, since I need less chakra, and also there's a water source right there." She said pointing at the small fountain next to the ground. "Also we don't need to split the ground to put the fence."

"Oh, okay."

"Water release: Water wave" Ino made the seals and soon enough the water from the fountain was brought in a wave to the places where the fence was supposed to be placed. The wave cut through the mud on the boundaries and Naruto's manforce got on task to place the fence.

Clutching on the headset Ino began speaking, "Sensei, we are done with our job, over."

"Wait for us to finish, we will meet you at the playground once we are finished, over."

And so Naruto went to the swing and sat down, while Ino occupied the swing next to him. This swing was his ultimate partner, no matter what the day was, no matter how coarse the weather was, the swing would never deny him companion. The children that played in front reminded him of his old days, when he would see the same view, children playing together, while he was the only one sitting on the swing. Even the orphans wouldn't play with him, like a newborn child would always try to imitate what their parents did, the orphans imitated what the others did. They hated Naruto, despised solely because of a phantom grudge they picked from the adults, if only they knew about the Kyuubi, a lot more violent bunch of people would have been after Naruto all the time. 'And these are the people I wanted to protect as the Hokage.'

"Is there something wrong with you Naruto?" Ino wasn't one to be concerned with what was going on with Naruto most of the time, but her logical brain that couldn't process his actions anymore, constantly kept on nagging her to learn more.

"Nope, nothing, yeah nothing."

"Oh, okay, if you say so."

"Hm." A simple question bothered him at the moment, 'Is it worth it?' To protect the people that caused him so much suffering, who never tried to understand him. His past is the only thing he could lean on, because the future didn't excite him anymore. It wasn't Iruka he would become Hokage to protect, it was the villagers who never cared for him that he would have to protect. Would they even accept him as a Hokage?

"Oi, Naruto you are doing it again, are you alright?"

"Oh yeah I am alright!" Naruto blurted out, being surprised by Ino's sudden question.

"You don't seem alright to me, you are making some weird faces."

Naruto slapped his cheeks together with both of his palms to clear out his head. 'Iruka-sensei would never want me to doubt myself. He died so I could become Hokage!' "Yeah I am alright! Don't worry, it's just I didn't eat anything that's why." 'This damn place is making me think of this. I hated this place, no wonder I would hate the village if I come to this place.' "You know what? Tell Asuma sensei that I went home to eat dinner, so I couldn't stay."

"Wow, so even you are ditching now. Oh well, I will just head towards Asuma sensei and the rest and figure out what is taking them so long. See ya after the weekend."

Naruto left without saying anything after that. The fourth Hokage's monument was where he always found solace even when the most complicated questions plagued his minds. Misty breeze, slight dew, and the view of a peaceful village underneath, this is what calmed Naruto's mind all the time. This scenery was something he didn't want to get filled with chaos like he heard had consumed all the nations over the years. But his mind didn't convince him this time, a peaceful village takes not more than a minute to dissolve into chaos, he knew from all the occasions he was chased by the whole village on his birthday. 'I really am tired from all this thinking, my head hurts.' Naruto soon dozed off.

*Thump* "Owww" *splash* Rubbing the pained portion of his back, he realized that he just landed on a really hard surface, *splash* and a surface that was wet. He tried to use his hands as support to pick himself off the ground but slipped on the water again and fell down. The echo that came back to his ears alerted him, this was huge boundary he must have stumbled upon. He slowly got up and started to move solely based on his instincts, and his instincts brought him smashing into a solid wall next to him. 'Ok, so it must be massive in only one direction.' He remembered from one of the lessons in his science textbook that sound travels so fast that normally people don't understand the difference between their own voice and echo. Only at long distances do echoes take long enough to be easily differentiated as an echo by us. He kept walking and walking, following the echo, and he finally managed to find a door. The doorway brought him into a room bigger than the academy itself. 'Looks creepy.'

"Be glad you are not dead." The line was delivered in a tone as if someone was mocking Naruto.

"Oh I am so glad that I am not dead." While his voice sounded calm as Kakashi's, his eyes and ears had gone restless, millions of thoughts were racing through his head. Unknown territory, unknown presence and nothing for his senses to pick up. 'Who is this?' If Naruto judged a man's strength by the intensity of their voice, then the strongest man he had seen was in the room with him; whether hostile or friendly, remained the question. "Mind telling me where I am? If you feel too kind, throw in your name too."

"If you came here, you should be the one to know, and not me." There was a small laugh. 'What a pathetic attempt at acting tough.'

"Oh. Sadly I have no idea. Now I would be glad if you could tell me where the exit is." The faint source of light was bright enough to allow Naruto to see the ground work, the railings, and of course the water around him. Looked like a deserted sewage system. Definitely not a place he wanted to stay in and find out what it was.

"This is your mindscape brat, you are the only one who can exit it. If I could escape this cage I would have done so long time ago."

"What do you mean?" As he was getting used to the darkness, he understood that it wasn't railings that he saw, in fact it was a cage. And behind the cage, those huge eyes, red fur, and massive fur, it was the Nine Tailed Fox that stood behind the cage. "Don't tell me, you are the Kyuubi?"

"You're sharper than you look kid."

So many things were racing through his mind once again, now he regretted finding out the identity of the strong voice he was so cautious of earlier. He didn't know what to do, he was lost. He hated him to the core, thinking about all the suffering that Kyuubi caused him made his guts knot and twist in anger. Fear of the wrath that might be awaiting him kept him from projecting his thoughts. But his fear didn't stop his shaking fist, that wanted nothing less than the blood of the beast.

"Oh, so you hate me?" A mocking laugh followed his sentence, which too was filled with disgust. "I wasn't the one who abandoned you all these years, I wasn't the one that punished you for living through hell, I wasn't the one you were protecting despite being hated."

"How did you know what I was thinki-"

"I have to live here, listening to every single pathetic human treating you like shit. Our minds are linked, a link I would be more than happy to break."

"Don't you dare talk about it like it's not your fault."

"Your sufferings stem from the villagers, and they are the ones that deserve your hatred. What I did doesn't mean you have to take shit from them. It's because of you trying to be part of them that you suffer."

"What do you mean I try to be a part of them! I hate how they treat me, that's why I want to change things. That's why I want to be the Hokage, so they can never treat me like that." Subconsciously Naruto blurted out that he hated the villagers, which was in fact true. He loathed the way they treated him.

"Don't you dare show your weak hatred in front of me. " His furry little paws launched out from his cage, through the bars, to almost slash the puny little human in front of him. The tremble that crossed through the ground threw Naruto down to the ground. "Hatred is strength, hatred is the only thing that makes you face reality. Real hatred would make you want to rip apart their very existence, not become their Hokage." His fangs were on full display to make sure Naruto understood his hostility. "Real hatred is something I have. I hate you, and humans more than anything in this world. You humans made me learn to hate, and those villagers will teach it to you too. Either hate them yourself, or wait for them to do something to make you hate them more than anything."

"Stop acting like you care what I do, you just want me to kill someone."

"I can't give a rat's shit about the lives of measly two or three humans. It's you that's going to die one day at their hands. If my survival wasn't linked to yours I would have long given up on saving you from them."

"You never saved me, and never tried to kill me. The most they did was beat me up!"

"I can't even laugh at how stupid you are. Those rocks that you receive to your head on your birthdays aren't love punches. If I didn't heal your wounds you would have bled to death."

"But they never did it after I was 7!"

"STOP MAKING THESE EXCUSES! They are no different from monsters like me, seeking Vengeance."

Suddenly Naruto woke up. His exit from his mindscape was marked by the settlement of his mind. While his mind dwelled on the question of the innocence of the villagers, his summoning to the mindscape was triggered to help him answer those questions, and settle the unsettled emotions in his heart. But now his heart was settled, he hated those damn villagers, they were no different from the Kyuubi, vengeful pieces of shit. He didn't know when but he made it to the training ground while walking and thinking.

"Oi Naruto!"

He was brought out of his thoughts as he saw Ino waving her hands while sweating like crazy and calling him. "What happened?" He didn't need it now, human contact was going to piss him off more right now.

"I was looking for you all over the place!"

"Why would you do that?"

"Cause I wanted to do. Here's the payment from the mission yesterday."

"Oh thanks for giving me the payment."

"You didn't eat anything yesterday for dinner, did you?"

"No I didn't. How did you know?"

"You left for dinner, but all the stores were closed for the renovations before the weekend. There were a few huge food restaurants open, but they didn't let you enter last time. And when I went to your house to give you your check, no one answered. I left a note on the door, but no one removed it in the morning either. So basically you went for a day without food, and without sleeping inside your house."

"Oh, pretty elaborate. How did you know I was gonna be here?"

"Stop asking questions and just follow me!"

"Okay."

Ino had almost drained all her energy to find him in the morning. Asuma managed to give her the right information regarding his weekend training regiment. It seemed like Asuma really did know a lot more about his students that anyone could have thought.

"I don't think I need to eat food bought by you."

"Just shut up and come." 'Why does he seem so cold all of a sudden.'

"I told you I don't -" His mouth started salivating at the scene, the Ichiraku Ramen sign hung up in front of him, and the image of ramen posted next to the sign. "- mind eating here."

Naruto went in and sat down on the chair. "It's my treat today."

"WHy?"

"Well because you helped me out in the work yesterday. Because of the quality of work both of us got bonuses too!"

"Oh alright. Old man Teuchi! Gimme three bowls of the usual!"

"Oh heyy Naruto! Are you on a diet or something?" Teuchi was surprised to hear himself control his ramen intake. It really was weird. But then he saw Ino, and realized she might be paying. A smile crowned his face. "And you young lady, what will you have?"

"Just one bowl of ramen, with a bit of vegetables. That's all."

"Alright coming right up!"

"Thanks for the food Ino!"

"Oh, don't mention it."

Naruto took the ramen and started chugging it down. Ino just watched in a bit of disgust, a bit of amusement, and a lot of satisfaction. This clumsy, cheerful side of Naruto of Naruto was what she knew. It was much better than the way he looked yesterday. The sadness and loneliness in his face when he was watching the kids being picked up by their parents wasn't something Ino liked even a bit. That just didn't suit him. She was glad that Asuma knew that Naruto liked ramen, because she honestly couldn't think of anything that could make someone so happy.

"Oi, what are you smiling at nothing."

"Nothing, nothing at all."

Naruto kept staring at her, for a moment he thought that there was a very familiar man in front of him at the moment. Wearing a chunin vest, tying his hair into a ponytail, sporting a scar on his nose, the man was smiling at him saying the same words, "Nothing, nothing at all" to answer his question. 'Iruka sensei.'

"Now what are you staring at me for."

"Nothing, nothing at all." Naruto continued eating, not before both of them laughed a little. ' I wonder if this how I felt every time Iruka-sensei bought me food in this store.' While slurping the noodles, he peeked through the corner of his eyes, the smile on her face never vanishing, a smile that could take away any worries from one's mind. 'Even after bossing me around so much, if she is this nice to me, in the future I don't think I would mind.'

Author's note***********

Hope you guys liked the chapter. The story will dive into the land of wave arc soon enough, but enjoy the other character interactions meanwhile.


	7. Chapter 7: I Shall Live

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Also from now on for 2-3 months the story will be updated on a weekly basis or at least bi weekly basis.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identifymy mistakes.

Saint of Vice koncor: I was going to go with Tayuya too, but there's something about Ino i couldn't resist to include in this story. I want Ino to go through changes as well as Naruto. SO them being so different means that they will both have to go through a lot of changes for each other, which is going to be essential in this story in my thinking. Anyway thanks for the suggestion.

Heart Ligdarre: Well you will just have to stick around and find out if your prediction comes true :) :)

To all the others who wanted an update, here it is!

Thanks to all the others who reviewed. Your reviews make my day,positive or negative. Anyway we are at Reviews:57, Favs:151, Follows:237. Let's increase that number fast! I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Sorry if you felt the chapter was rushed, I will be fixing mistakes whenever I get the time. Let me know about the mistakes. Also I am extremely sorry for this slow slow update. I had a lot of exams and work due before this. Took me more than a freaking month to update :'( Next time it won't happen, especially with summer vacation coming. Hope you guys like the story!

Also this chapter marks the start of the Land o Waves Arc.

Chapter 7: I Shall Live.

The sun was rising in the horizon, red as blood, emerging from the mountain. A figure stained that pure red light, with a speck of its complementary staining the scenery, green. Maito Gai, without losing a breath, scrunched his eyebrows together as he talked motivation into the blonde who was wobbling right behind.

"Gai-sensei *huff* you *huff* didn't need to … come this early." Naruto was on the 15th lap of the village , even though the sun was only beginning to rise. His logic being that if he is going to get tired by not getting any sleep, then he might as well get tired training.

"If my student is sweating away his sleep for the sake of training, then I can never stay put and not train myself." Gai's 4th lap around the village was currently in progress, but it was still amazing how he missed not a single word of his to catch a breath.

"I … see"

"Good morning sensei and Naruto-kun!" They both looked back, one in a teary joyful face, the other in a mild awe. Naruto didn't even bother to ask Lee why he showed up on the day he had off, because he knew of Lee's dedication to training.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

As peculiar as it may be, but they didn't need to say anything else to each other, it was as if they were linked by their minds. Gai and Lee, without any exchange of words understood what each of them were going to talk about, as they both sprinted to run just behind Naruto and started to cheer him to go further and further.

The day kept progressing as usual, with Maito Gai instructing Naruto about his taijutsu stance, while Lee solidified his body further through strenuous activities.

"Punch the palm of my hands using both of your hands. Punch this palm with your right first, then left and then switch over to hitting my other palm."

"But sensei don't you need to wear gloves or something?"

"You must worry about your own fist first."

Naruto didn't understand much until he punched his palm, and then he understood why Gai didn't wear any gloves. It was because his palms were harder than the poles he used to punch for training in academy. "Surprised eh? With enough practice your palm and your whole body should become just as tough. This is the level you can achieve once you dedicate your youth to training!"

Naruto felt a burning sense of motivation surge through him, as he picked up his fists and continued throwing punches.

"Your punches are really strong, but seem to still lack a bit of the power that a body like yours can provide. Try twisting your upper body in the direction of the punch. Remember to extended your arm completely, that is key to building momentum."

Naruto's foot stepped forward, his torso twisting slightly with every punch, his arm extended completely, hitting the palms like a cannon each. "Alright that's enough, let's fix your fighting stance now that the basic moves like kicking, punching, and evading are down." As Naruto kept walking towards the shade of the big tree, Gai looked at his palms that had turned red already. 'This isn't the only time he's been practicing punching. He must have been doing it since he was in academy. If only those unyouthful teachers assisted him in his endeavors he could have been in a much better state.'

"Alright sensei so what do I do now?"

"First stand with your feet apart the same distance as your shoulders. Knees should be bent, ready to charge into the enemy. Keep your arms up at angle so the two thumbs of your fists meet under your chin like a triangle. Make sure your elbows are facing to your sides not front." Naruto missed a few points in his stance, but Gai's instruction with his hands was enough to fix them. 'If the teachers in academy left your hard work unappreciated, then I myself will make sure you succeed. Even if it means I have to teach you a stance solely suited for you.'

"So now I just need to try my basic moves while maintaining this stance, right?"

"Yes, yes indeed."

The stance was suited for Naruto for a reason. The chin high guard made it easy for him to protect his head, especially since Naruto wasn't really good enough with Hand eye coordination and Kunais to protect his face from projectiles. Also he has to keep an eye on the enemy and projectile to defend, so he can't even move his whole body, which meant the chin guard was the best option. However in other ninjas, this guard would mean leaving their body open. But Naruto's agility with his body meant he could bend his torso fast enough to about any potential fatal injury, while keeping an eye on any attackers. But the main purpose of this stance was to switch from defense to offense in a flash. Naruto's clone was his main jutsu and he needed badly to attack head on any sort of enemy he faces utilizing his clones. A high guard meant that he could punch easily from the height, and using his Kunais for hand on attack would be easier too.

"Am I doing it right?"

"Yes, you are performing the moves excellently in such a short time, keep it up young man!" Gai smiled in excitement. 'Not only does he possess extreme desire to train, but he is also a quick learner. He and Lee shall show the world that talent isn't everything.'

"Alright my boy, you have learned of your stance well enough. Now let's practice with it." Thus kept passing Naruto's most intense learning session under Maito Gai's tutelage.

Meanwhile as the sun rose to directly above everyone's head, team 7 continued running under the blazing heat. Sakura was sitting on top of the gate waiting for Sasuke to return. In the far distance a dust cloud was being kicked off, as a speck of red became visible through the line of a moving black wall. The speck of red was infact Sasuke, wearing a red cape to taunt the bulls into chasing him. In the sky a giant bird, which was actually being controlled by Sai, the literal life painter, kept flying over the herd of bulls that she saw as the wall. These were the same bulls that team 10 worked to regroup a week earlier.

"Kakashi sensei, I can see them."

"Alright Sakura, come down."

The bulls were affected once again by the heat. While some dropped down due to heat exhaustion, some were going berserk. Despite warnings last week the owner still decided to graze the bulls outside, since he wanted to earn extra cash to pay part of the increased taxation this year due to the costs of preparing for chunin exams. With the bulls so irritated, the ninjas were his only options left. As the time came, Sakura came up with the plan to contain the bulls. Sasuke who had the most stamina would lure the bulls to the house. But the most important role was being fulfilled by Sai, he was to scare any leftover bulls to follow the herd using his creations, and also he had to close any fences after passing through the field. And most important to Sakura, Sai had to protect Sasuke in any case of mishaps, which definitely irritated Sasuke without any retaliation. Sakura and Kakashi would finally close the gates to the farm.

Kakashi for a moment had just stared at her out of amazement, her books really did help her wits. And to him what was more important was that she was allowing Sasuke to do a dangerous task, showing her growth into someone who wouldn't cling onto Sasuke all day. It was partially correct, because she allowed Sasuke do the most dangerous job, but on the other hand she did it thinking only Sasuke could do the job and no one else, especially since Kakashi wanted to focus on his book more.

Kakashi watched as Sasuke approached the door, "Jump to side in 3! 2! 1! JUMP!"

Sasuke dove to the side, since he was cutting it a bit too close, and luckily enough the bulls didn't notice him moving to the side, and neither did he sustain any damage. The doors of the farm began creaking loudly, as Kakashi and Sakura started to close them together, even though the bulls didn't finish moving into the farm yet, the heavy weight of the door being the reason for them to start early. As soon as the bulls finished entering, both of them went notched it up a gear, and started pushing extremely fast, Kakashi being the first one to close one side of the gate. "Sakura! Hurry up! Don't let the bulls get out!" Sasuke yelled at sakura, he didn't want all his running to go to waste because of someone's weakness. But Sakura's physical capability was never something that could impress anyone, despite the torrent of sweat flowing down her face, the door wouldn't budge beyond a point. And then in a flash stood up Sasuke, with a loud grunt he ran into the door, and his momentum causing the door to start moving again. Sai came down to the ground to help Sakura push the gate close all the way.

All three of them sat down, exhausted.

"Good work team 7." Kakashi spoke calmly. He was really impressed, his team started helping each other out to make up for each others weakness, especially Sakura's. The ego of the three ninjas played a deep role within the success of their teamwork. The reason being that any failure would encourage Kakashi to use Naruto as support, which would be a blow to their ego. "You know what, I believe you guys are ready for a higher class mission." Kakashi's eye smile brought a smile to every one of the team's faces, even Sai's face.

"Really? So is it going to be an A-rank?" Sakura's excitement could make anyone forget that she was frustrated and exhausted a moment ago from a major screw up.

"No, C-rank." Kakashi's eye smile became more apparent as everyone else's excitement mixed into the ground. "Don't look so down, at least you won't be doing these tedious D-rank missions."

Everyone sighed a little, exhaustion finally forcing all of them to lie down on the green grass to take a much deserved break.

Meanwhile inside a house in the isolated island of Nami no Kuni, three people sat on 3 different ends of their dinner table.

An old grey haired bearded man kept chugging food down his throat, as he kept talking, "This sure is some delicious food, don't remember the last time I had something this tasty. Don't think I would mind even if this is my last meal."

"Father! Don't say things like that!" The blue haired Lady sitting across from him was about to burst in anger, she was already under a lot of stress, she didn't need some more morbid jokes during lunch.

"Ahh Tsunami-chan don't get so anger like that. I don't just trying to cheer up the atmosphere."

Tsunami, the lady who was yelling a while ago just sighed. "But are you sure you are going to be safe? Crossing the river without being spotted, I don't think it is even possible. Please reconsider your decision, I don't think we can live if something happens to you."

"I made up my mind already, I won't back away now. I know damn well it is not safe, and that if I am caught then you will be left without anyone but young Inari." Tsunami was surprised at her father's words, he wasn't even trying to sugarcoat them anymore. "But, the way we are living right now can't be considered living. Staying quiet and letting this land rot to hell would be an insult to Kaiza's sacrifice. I, Tazuna the Bridge builder, would rather die by their hands than allow the people in this land to be tortured like this."

A feeling of pride as well as sadness surged through her heart as she heard Tazuna speaking. "I see, I guess I can't convince you. But please try to come back safely, at least for Inari."

The third and final member on the table finally opened his mouth, "There's no point of going grandpa, you are just going to get caught."

"Inari!" Tsunami still couldn't grasp what could bring back the old Inari, that would despite of challenges, set forth with his father Kaiza to help out others. All Inari would do now was mope around all day, isolating himself from the world.

"Don't worry about it Tsunami. I will just have to prove Inari wrong." Tazuna with a victory smile got up from the table. He took his hat and started heading towards the door. But he was stopped suddenly, by a pair of arms that hugged his waist.

"Don't go grandpa."

"If it isn't Inari, I thought you didn't care much if I left? Couldn't keep up the manly act for too long now could you?" Tazuna's teasing had gone too far, since Inari barely managed to hold in the tears welling up near his eye lids. "Ahh don't cry, you are a grown up boy right?"

Inari just shook his head in response.

"Then just sip some juice because you can't drink Sake yet, and wait for me to come back. I give you my word I will come back."

The door opened, Tazuna left the house, and the door shut close. All that was left was for the family to see when the door opens again whether Tazuna comes back or just the news of his failure.

In Konoha's training ground, punches and kicks were being thrown everywhere, which were also being dodged everywhere. According to Gai's instruction, Naruto made a bunch of clones, and they were separated into groups in order to fight each other while focusing on one specific task. One group was instructed to punch the opponents only, one group was instructed to kick, one was instructed to block, and the other was instructed to block. So in a sparring session of the clones, Naruto would be able to improve four different skills at the same time.

"Now dispel your clones, and then if Kakashi was correct , you should have improved all your basics for fighting drastically!"

"Alright Sensei." Naruto wove the rat seal using his hands and shouted "Kai" to release his jutsu. As usual with the influx of a large amount of information, comes a momentary surge of pain through his head. But due to the lesser number of clones, he was still able to stand well on his feet.

"My boy Rock Lee!"

"Yes Sensei!" The green jumpsuit wearing boy jumped out of nowhere to appear into existence in front of Maito Gai.

"It's time for you to have a spar against Naruto."

"Yosh,I can finally allow the fighting urge in my body to flow freely into a real spar! Naruto-kun let's start right now!"

Naruto stood straight, finally in control of himself and sighed, 'He is way too energetic,' and he headed forward. "Well then, let's have a spar."

Near a river in the Land of the Waves

"Well if it isn't Tazuna!"

"Hey old man, you got that boat ready?" Tazuna had asked for a boat at the lowest cost available to him a few days earlier.

"Who you calling old man! I am barely five to ten years older than you." After calming down he pointed in the direction of the river bank. "My most broken boat is right there. I fixed it up so that it could hold maybe one person for one trip across. Make it two for either person or trip and you would be swimming back."

"Old man, couldn't you give me something better?"

"Oi stop calling me that already! And if you that desperately want a better boat, you better pay a bigger sum of money."

"But you know the state of my moneybag. Even if I rent a good boatsman and a boat for one trip to bring in the ninjas, I would be broke to the last penny. People wouldn't take risky jobs without getting their money." Tazuna took out his wallet to show him just how little money he had left.

"Shut your yapping, it's the same for all people here. No one has money to just give away for something as risky of a gamble as this. If they find out I gave the boat, then I am screwed." The boat builder rubbed his wrinkled forehead, he knew the risks already, but even one thought of it brought him a headache each time.

"I know, I know. But still wouldn't it had been better if you put your gamble on someone else, someone maybe younger and stronger than me?"

"I am not that foolish you know. After living for all these years I know that something like this doesn't only need strength, but courage, and sense of responsibility. You as the father-in-law of Kaiza have that burden and duty upon your shoulder. Besides me the Boat builder and you the Bridge builder once helped the economy in this land thrive. After Gato's arrival, I can trust no one but you on this gamble."

"Thanks old man, just wait and watch. I will win your gamble for you."

"You better!"

"Anyway see ya after I come back with the ninjas!"

Tazuna left off towards the river bank. He got on the boat and took the oar, and started to paddle the boat forward. But then the boat builder ran after him. "Oi Tazuna! You are rowing the boat too loud, they will clearly hear you!"

"Don't worry old man, I will only row up to the permitted distance in the fog, after that I got a trick of myself."

"Are you gonna swim for the rest of the way? It's insane!"

"I am not that stupid ya know. I have a plan, you can trust me."

The old man just sighed, he will just have to wait and see then. "Alright, good luck."

Rock Lee stood on a tree branch, finally in a spar having taken a few scratches and bruises from Naruto. Naruto with his close to blue eyed face stood down on the ground, trying to listen for any sign of his arrival. Even though he couldn't close or open his swelling eyes easily anymore, he was still not disappointed. Without even using his clones, this is the first Tai-jutsu spar between him and Lee where he stayed on his foot for more than 2 hours.

"Here I come Naruto-kun!"

'Who calls out opponent's name before attacking?' Naruto twisted his body to face the source of his sound, his eyes couldn't really see much through the small opening, but he saw a lot of lines approaching. Having no idea he stared at the lines, while trying to bring his hands up to guard his face. 'Are those the lines on the bottom of a sandal?' But he couldn't bring the guard up before he was knocked away. Those lines were indeed the friction grips under the sandals of Lee. And after that Naruto's consciousness slipped away.

The calm river water was occasionally disturbed by the noise of a wooden oar treading water. The fog that had limited vision for the last hour or two, finally started to give entrance to light coming from the outside. 'Finally it's time.'

Tazuna got up from his seat on the close to being broken boat, and he started walking to the one of the edges of the boat. As soon as he stepped on the edge, the boat started to lean sideways, and then came one strong push by Tazuna's foot and the boat complete flipped horizontally. Tazuna managed to hold on to edge of the boat. Now that the boat was flipped upside down, the hollow space inside the boat trapped a lot of air above the water and between the floor of the boat. Tazuna brought his head inside that bit of air and put both of his on the edges of the boat. Then he started to tread water between his legs to propel the boat forward.

The boat being flipped upside down was almost a suicidal, but clever plan. Now if any ninjas of Gato saw the boat, he would just think of it as some broken boat that got flipped over by a storm or something. The broken condition of the boat would not even tempt anyone to retrieve the boat. Also the air trapped inside the boat would be enough to sustain breathing for Tazuna for more than a few hours, after which he can lean the boat slightly to allow more air to come inside. But the most important job of that air was to keep the boat floating. This plan wasn't however that easy, since in the end it came down to the stamina of Tazuna. If he were to lose strength in his legs, he wouldn't be able to propel the boat forward. Even though the water applies a force upward, Tazuna's arms would have to support most of his weight and hold onto the boat to move it. It was just another gamble, with the stake being his life.

Everything was going pretty smoothly for the first few hours, and since then exhaustion started to build up inside his body. He leaned the boat to get a bit of that air, but unlike what he had thought, leaning that boat was one hell of a mistake. The moment he allowed the boat to leaned sideways air started escaping the boat, and it started to sink. He barely managed to straighten the boat to keep however much air was inside from escaping. 'Shit, shit, shit! This is not what I needed right now.'

After finally stabilizing the boat, he realized that his options were getting more and more dangerous. Either he could swim without the boat and risk being spotted, or he could stay under that boat and risk suffocating. He chose to keep doing the latter. 'A hundred or two more meters and I will reach land.' He could occasionally put his head to the side of the boat under the water to figure out the obstacles in his way. 'I think I am running out of oxygen, I really need to go there fast.' And that's when he heard the noise that let him know that life wasn't always as sweet as it seemed.

"Oi bastard, look at that, wanna catch that alligator?"

"Dumbass, how drunk are you to think that broken boat is an alligator. Besides there ain't no alligators in this damn river." Two ninjas on top of a boat were roaming around the river to continue their guarding duty.

"Don't call me drunk! I can guarantee it's an alligator, looks it's even moving, and sometimes there's water moving near its back. That must be the tail!"

"I am really gonna kill you after I show you that damn thing is just a boat."

The two ninjas sailed forward towards Tazuna's boat stopped moving. He tried to stay still, so that the water around him wouldn't move. 'It's getting harder to breathe in here.'

"Row faster dumbass, or is it that you are afraid that thing is not an alligator?" The sober ninja was quite enjoying it, soon enough he could see his lazy drunk partner grovel for mercy.

"Never! I trust my eyes well enough!"

Meanwhile the grip of Tazuna's hand was starting to get loose. While treading water with his legs it was easier from him to float under the boat, but now he couldn't do that. 'I think my… hand.. Is slipping.' His thoughts started becoming hazy, the colors around him distorted and the space around him contorted.

Finally reaching the boat, the sober ninja hit the boat with his oar to allow his partner to hear the wooden clang. "Alright, give me 1000 ryo or I'm throwing you out. Then you could be with your alligator forever."

After begging to reduce the price, the two ninjas left on their way back to patrolling the whole river.

Tazuna's eyes couldn't see their movements anymore. All he could hear were distant noises and the slow beating of his heart and the voice in his mind. He tried to open his eyes but they were burning in pain. His lungs were on fire. 'So I'm under water, huh?' His body couldn't move so easily with his breathing not having been sustained for a while. 'Although it hurts it's pretty peaceful out here. It's not so bad after all.' The tiny bit of opening in his mouth caused the remaining air inside him to flow out, allowing water to fill his lungs. 'I guess dying isn't so bad as they say.'

A door in front of him opened slightly, a little boy peeked through the opening. "Don't go grandpa."

'Well if it isn't Inari."

"Don't go grandpa."

'Just wait for me, I will be back in a flash. I give you my word.'

"Oi Tazuna, ya running away from finishing the bridge?" The old boat builder stood in front of him this time.

'Old man I told you I am coming back.'

"Stop lying, you gave up already didn't you?"

'No I didn't!'

And then he opened his eyes, that searing pain gave way to the view of the sky beyond the water. 'What a loser I am. I was close to giving up.' He kicked his legs and started moving then ferociously to tread water below him. 'I was just afraid of failing their expectations, and death was the easy way out.' His lungs were about to burst, but he kept moving, combining his arms to move his body towards the top of the water. 'I promise Inari, never in my life will I ever give up on living. I need to live on, for Kaiza, for everyone else.' And with another splash, his face emerged out of the water and a huge amount of air was immediately in by his lungs to keep him alive. His uncontrollable breathing created enough noise to attract attention of any ninjas nearby, but looking around there weren't any. With his sore muscles and tired hands, he latched onto a branch from a tree near the river bank. And finally he had reached ground.

In the Haruno household.

"Sakura dear, why are you packing so much for tomorrow?"

"Because tomorrow is my first C rank mission!"

"Oh really? Congratulations! Shouldn't you take a few snacks in case you need them?"

"But I don't want to get fat, Sasuke-kun wouldn't like that."

'And there she goes with her Sasuke-kun again.' Like Sakura, her mom too seemed to have an inner self, that didn't really liked Sakura's obsession with Sasuke. "Oh okay dear, just be careful and do your best alright!"

"Yeah of course."

The next day in the morning

"Hokage-sama, you have a client who wants to talk with you." Reported the female assistant with the notebook in her hand, standing outside the door.

"Tell him to come in." The third Hokage's brains were about to start boiling in heat, there were so much paperworks for him to do. Reports of numerous missing bodies across the borders of the land, and reports of numerous evidences of human experimentation. 'Are there more lunatics like Orochimaru now?' He picked up another page hoping that this report would be less worrying. But it was even more worrying, since it entailed the acts of aggression near the borders of the newly formed Sound Village. 'Can they ever report something nice to me? We are lacking manpower because of the chunin exam preparation, nearby villages are acting suspiciously, and we are running out of money for the chunin exams. Chunin exam, chunin exam, all the problems because of that!'

"May I come in?"

"Yes, you may." In all honesty, he didn't wish he came in, he already had too much to deal with.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"So what brings you here toda-y?" It didn't take long for Sarutobi to notice the bottle of Sake in the grey haired man's hand. 'Been drinking huh.'

"I want to travel to Land of The Waves, but the roads seem as dangerous as ever, especially with how many people that were attacked recently. So I am here to hire ninjas to escort me to the land of waves." Tazuna let out the whole statement really fast, should he stop once he wouldn't be able to continue the lie anymore. Even the Sake couldn't make it any easier for him to bear the guilt of potentially having to lie to a bunch of ninjas that might just die because of him. Besides such a lie, he couldn't possibly deliver it with a straight face without his mind being numbed by Sake.

'Something seems wrong with this.' "So how much are you offering for their service?"

"3500 ryo."

"That's impossible. To send a team of three ninjas only halfway would cost more than that!" He couldn't afford to lose manpower and resources at a time like this.

"Please, please do it for me. I don't have any more money, especially after starting my construction of the bridge from land of waves to nearby land, my pocket's been all empty. If I don't reach there and finish my bridge in time they all gonna starve for ages. Markets already dyin, not gonna take much more for the whole economy to go to hell without any trade." Tazuna was getting more and more desperate over time, his manner flew out the window as a crude tongue took hold of him.

"Did you say something about construction of a bridge?" The Hokage's interest peaked at the mention of bridge and trade.

"Yes I did. I, Tazuna the bridge builder, am building a bridge from land of waves to land nearby."

"Alright go and wait in the waiting room. I will classify the mission of escorting you as a C-rank mission even though the pay is equal to that of a D-rank mission. This will be an exception."

"Really that easily?" Tazuna couldn't believe what he heard, how could a man change his mind so fast?

"Yes, now go take some rest. Your body looks exhausted even without the liquor's effect."

"Thank you so much Hokage-sama."

"Don't worry, you are welcome."

Tazuna left the room. 'Once the land of the Waves used to be our main trading partner, until some problems caused their trading ties to be cut off with most villages.' The third took out a map. The land of the Waves was a tiny dot, but his experienced eyes didn't miss it. 'If they finish the bridge the trade can resume. Not only that, but accomplishing the mission would make them loyal to our village. In essence this mission would be a short term loss for a long time profit.' A smile came to his mouth, this could finally answer his problems regarding the declining resources of Konoha.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi Hatake of team 7 reporting."

"We have a series of D-rank missions that need to be completed. Choose whichever you want."

"No Hokage-sama, I was thinking about taking a B or C rank mission, since my team seems to well capable of completing one at this point."

'Jackpot. To send the uchiha and the copy ninja to this mission would definitely seal the deal.' "I think I have one just like you want."

After briefing the mission requirements to Kakashi the Hokage called in the rest of the team 7 to meet the client, Tazuna.

"Finally we are going on a C-rank mission Sasuke-kun!" whispered Sakura to Sasuke with excitement in her voice.

"Hmn." Same usual reply.

"So these brats and the Missy gonna protect me? And here I was thinking I could go back safely." Tazuna said with his drunken voice. 'Why, god, why? These brats aren't even much older than Inari. They are just gonna end up dying if Gato attacks!'

"Do not worry about that Tazuna-san, they might be young, but they are full fledged Shinobi capable of carrying this mission out safely." Every single word by the old man Sarutobi carried a weight of responsibility. And nothing could be more reassuring than the words from the Hokage.

"Oh, if you say so Hokage-sama." By now the glares from all three of the team 7, turned into a cocky smirk, even Sai.

"Alright team 7 let's head out, since you all packed your bags already, let's head straight for Land of Waves."

"Yes sensei!" The three students headed out with Tazuna and Kakashi behind them.

"I guess time will show if you are just brats or not." Tazuna spoke as he took a gulp from the bottle.

"At least better than being a drunk old man." Sakura's frustration was matched by the laugh from Kakashi.

"Maybe you are right." 'Maybe all of you will be safe and alive when we reach home. But no matter what you must keep me alive. I am selfish, but there are a lot more people depending on me.'

With a bit of optimism and no clue of what was to come, Team 7 and Tazuna headed out of Konoha's gate to their destination, Land of the waves.

 **Author's note: Thanks for reading! Next update will be within a week, so stay tuned!**


	8. Chapter 8: Land of Waves!

Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.

"Words"- Quotes or speech.

'Words' - Thoughts.

" **Words"** \- Kyuubi's voice.

Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his amazing manga.

Also from now on for 2-3 months the story will be updated on a weekly basis or at least bi weekly basis.

Please review the story if you have the time, because your feedback helps me improve my story line somewhat. It's fine if you have something negative to say about the story, since I am really bad at writing and am bound to make mistakes. Flame me if you want, but do it so I could identify my mistakes.

Heart Ligdarre: It's surprising to hear you thought my fanfic was detailed lol. I don't know much about writing. But if I could tell you one thing, that would be to write things that would create an image in the head of the reader of the things happening in the story, then the details would be successfully placed in my opinion.

Setokayba2n: Well the anbus are always instructed to place safety of citizens first. If a tailed beast is about to be released in your area, the first response would be to evacuate and protect the citizens. That's what they were doing. And the thing about the shop, just wait, I already have it included later :) .

Flaming Beauty: THanks for the tip!

To all the others who wanted an update, here it is!

Thanks to all the others who reviewed. Your reviews make my day,positive or negative. Anyway we are at Reviews:64 , Favs:174, Follows:271. Let's increase that number fast! I would really appreciate if you guys leave a review or feedback on my writing.

Chapter 8: Land of Waves!

The silence in the forest was breathtaking, the three young ninjas guarding Tazuna and the tired Kakashi Hatake stared at the limp body of the Masked ninja, Zabuza Momochi. Two needles, that was all it took to leave the S-ranked Rogue ninja motionless. Despite of the fatigue that built up in Kakashi's leg, he swiftly jumped next to the body of Zabuza. Kakashi's fingers slid under Zabuza's chin and touched the skin covering the coronary artery, and no pulse could be detected anymore. Zabuza was dead. And on the tree branch nearby stood the killer, a young ninja, wearing a mask.

'Unbelievable, to accurately hit two vital points in an instant, that is no ordinary ninja.' Kakashi looked at his team and spoke, "Zabuza is dead." Kakashi looked up at the mask wearing ninja, "You must be a hunter-ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist, if the mask is real." The hunter ninja nodded in response.

Team 7 stared at the hunter ninja, with an expression of fear. By nature of their duty, the Hunter-ninjas were only to subdue rogue ninjas from their village to avoid leakage of any village secrets, so ninjas from Konoha weren't to be attacked. However the mere strength, the skill level of this hunter ninja frightened team 7. It felt the same as that time when Zabuza took step in front of them, only they were in better condition back then.

"Sasuke, Sai, Sakura, relax, if she wanted to kill us, we would have been dead by now." Kakashi's word , instead of relaxing Team 7, frightened Team 7 even more.

"Kakashi-san is correct, I bear no ill intention. So there is no need to be cautioned. My target was to kill only Zabuza Momochi, and I had been following him for the chance to do so. Due to his fight with you Konoha ninjas, my task was made considerably easier. For that you have my gratitude."

The genins relaxed ever so slightly, because the voice of the Hunter ninja seemed kind and quite gentle.

'Her voice seems so delicate and young. She must be of the same age as Sasuke. This is truly a terrifying world, a ninja of her age to be this capable.' Kakashi looked at Sasuke who started gritting his teeth in frustration. 'I can't blame you Sasuke, I would be frustrated too if I met someone my age so many eons ahead of me in terms of skill.' Kakashi spoke to the hunter-ninja, "We are thankful for your help. So what are you going to do with that body?"

The hunter-ninja flinched a little behind her mask, "I shall be taking it with me to our Village, our Mizukage shall decide what to do with it."

"Oh I see." Kakashi's face wasn't visible beyond his mask, however if one could have taken a look at his face it would have been clear that he was in a dilemma. 'Hunter-ninja's first job is to burn the dead body of their target, no chances are advised to be taken. She clearly didn't kill him since she didn't want to burn him.' Kakashi looked for any signs of hostility, but found none from her. 'Why isn't she attacking us? She is fully capable of defeating us in this worn out state.' Kakashi's eyes slid to the place where Sai,Sakura and Sasuke were standing. He needed to find a plan to subdue the enemy. But then he saw the trembling fist of Sasuke, 'Dammit, he is in no state of mind to fight. Sai might have some abilities that even I don't know of, but he is outclassed. And Sakura, well now she is pretty useless. And here I thought teamwork was all they needed, how foolish of me.' "Good luck on your journey back to the village of the mist, and thank you for saving us."

"You're welcome." The leaves swirled in the wind around the hunter-ninja and Zabuza's body, and in a moment they were gone. It was the body flicker jutsu.

Kakashi's knees buckled and he collapsed down to the ground. Team 7 and Tazuna ran towards him to pick him up.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke finally came out of his bout of frustration, as he saw his Jounin instructor fall down to the ground. 'What a useless fool I am!' His speed being the fastest among his teammates, he reached Kakashi the quickest. He picked up Kakashi's head from the ground.

Sakura took a look at Kakashi's face, and it was not a pretty sight. Around his eyes veins were visible beneath the skin, bulging with blue. "He has chakra exhaustion! His face is blue from lack of chakra and oxygen."

"Kakashi-san, are you alright?" Tazuna took a bottle of water from Sasuke's backpack and dumped the water on Kakashi's head. To cool his head.

*Cough* "Stoooop." *Cough*

"Oh you are awake now." Everyone breathed an air of relief.

"I was awake….. Just too tired to talk… I need some rest."

Sai and Sasuke picked Kakashi up by his hands and kept on walking with him. Sakura and Tazuna led the way to finally go to Tazuna's house.

The Hunter-ninja kept jumping from tree branch to branch. She suddenly stopped jumping, and came down to the ground.

"Drop me now."

"Alright Zabuza-sama." The hunter ninja dropped the living body that was supposed to be dead a long time ago. "Are you alright? Do you need any help?"

"First tell me why didn't you kill our target?"

"I didn't find any opening to do so."

"Stop lying." She didn't reply. "Take off your mask and answer me Haku!"

Haku took off her hunter-nin mask and looked down at the ground, afraid of meeting Zabuza's eyes.

"Was it because you would have had to kill the other three kids before killing Tazuna?" Haku nodded slowly, afraid of how Zabuza would respond to her. "That copy-ninja is smart. He probably called for support when the demon brothers got captured. He knows he can't send messenger birds after entering this deep into the forest, they would be easy targets in the blue sky. So the next time we meet Tazuna, we will need to kill even the support team."

Haku's eyes widened at hearing of it. 'I was such a fool. There really is no way other than to kill.'

"This is the ninja world Haku, you can't act on emotions. Shinobis are tool, and emotions are like rust, they will only break you down." He took his sword, Kubikiribocho, from his back and placed it on his lap. After spotting a few cracks and dents, he took off a bit of the bandage from his wounded hand and let the blood drip. The iron in the blood merged with the sword, restoring its previous glory and edge. "A master has no use for a rusty tool. But when a sharpened tool has a rotten master the tool doesn't behave either." He took the Kubikiribocho, used it as a support to get up and lean on it. "I can not end this bloodbath until the day I can take back the Hidden Mist Village from the Mizukage, my rotten master. But till then I can only lean on my tool. Support me however you can, because you are my tool, and in return I will show you how a good master uses his tool."

Haku couldn't bear it in her anymore, she failed her master again. But next time she wouldn't let it happen. "I am sorry, I really am sorry. I will never fail you as your tool, ever again." Tears dripped down her cheeks, till it fell down her chin to her mask.

Zabuza with his wounded hand raised Haku's chin to face him. "If you need to kill, do it. We are shinobis, not Samurai. Showing mercy isn't befitting of us. In the end, killing is all we are capable of."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama."

While supporting Zabuza by his arm, Haku entered the dilapidated brick house that was in the middle of the deep forest.

"Don't fall behind Ino." Shouted Asuma, who was jumping through the trees while leading his three students through the deep forest.

"Don't worry sensei, I can keep up." She took a glance behind her, but she faced forward disappointed. "So how far did you tell Naruto to stay?"

"I just told him to follow the protocol of being a support, which means he should be in range to see us, and any incoming threats, but far enough not to be spotted with us. No need to worry about him."

"That kind of makes it worse doesn't it? I mean what if he is caught by himself?"

"You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find him, unless you were a ninja assigned to catch him after his pranks. Also that's partly the reason why I am shouting to you, so that they spot me before Naruto." Asuma didn't usually talk that much to his students, unless it was one of those times when his mouth wasn't occupied, or in other words when he was running too fast to smoke.

"I see sensei, guess that makes sense."

Chouji who was running ahead of her, slowed down to Ino's pace. "You seem kinda worried about him."

"Well I don't want him to get into trouble that's all. He told me earlier that today was his day off, but because he came to train with me, he got dragged into this mission. It must suck if he ends up getting hurt."

"Oh my, aren't you considerate Ino. I really did misjudge you all these years." Asuma laughed a little just to piss off Ino. It was getting boring to just run through the place without spotting any enemies.

"Aren't you funny Asuma-sensei. I thought the only joke you could make was yourself." Shikamaru and Choji's strengthened Ino's confidence in her humor. "So sensei, do you have any idea why this mission is so important that the Hokage agreed to provide ninjas without much payment?"

"Either the Hokage lied to us to pay us less, which doesn't make sense, or he saw a benefit in this mission that does make sense. If you-" Asuma's facial expression changed suddenly.

"Sensei, yes If I-" Ino was really interested in what her Sensei had to say.

Hearing Ino's voice reminded Asuma that he was in middle of a conversation. " IF YOU EVER FEEL AFRAID, REMEMBER THAT I, ASUMA SARUTOBI, WILL SAVE MY TEAM!" Asuma's loud manly voice echoed through the forest.

"Sensei, did you hit your head somewhere today?" Ino was massaging her ears hoping that the damage from Asuma's sudden outburst wasn't too severe.

Before Asuma could speak, Shikamaru started screaming just like Asuma did before, "No need to worry Ino, our sensei is strong enough to protect us anytime!"

"What a great day, first Sensei loses his mind and now the laziest person spends energy to scream into my ears." Ino looked right up ahead, and saw that forest gradually grew thin enough to give view to locals of the town. "Oh look, finally some normal people up ahead!" By now even Ino understood that something was going on because of which Asuma and Shikamaru was acting weirdly.

Finally reaching the end of the forest Shikamaru breathed a breath of relief. "Finally, no more walking."

Chouji also seemingly happy said, "Finally, I can eat." He opened up his pack of chips.

"Finally, I can get back to finishing what I was said earlier." He took out the map of the land, and showed Ino the island on which they were walking at the moment. "You remember how we had to cross the river? According to the map there are no bridges across it. And the boats we hired charged quite a lot. Because of some problems this land stopped trading with Konoha. But if we can protect our client until he is a bridge builder, then the trade can resume. Which means there will be a long term profit."

"I see. And what happened back in the forest?"

"There were multiple people watching us. I was shouting my name so that they change their mind about attacking us."

"What if they didn't know your name?"

Shikamaru spoke this time, "If they didn't know the name of the ninja with a 35 million ryo bounty on his head, then they aren't much of a threat."

"Yup basically. If it was someone formidable I didn't want to risk getting depleted before reaching Team 7. But if it's some small fries then I could just finish the fight really fast. "

"Wait, wait, wait. So you have a 35 million ryo bounty? Who did you kill to get that much on your head?"

"I didn't kill to get that, I was just one of the guards of the Daimyo."

"Of the Daimyo? That's insane!"

"Yup, damn well it is, after all it's me you are talking about!"

"A bit more humility and I would have respected you."

"Well that's just too bad then Ino. Anyway, we should be able to find the client's house by asking around. We just need to wait there for Team 7."

Team 10 walked through the marketplace, the streets that were busy with people roaming around. Asuma went up to a store owned by a really old man.

"Hello Mister! So what are buying today? Every vegetables freshest in this store." The old man shuffled through a few of the items to show the quality.

Asuma visibly cringed at the sight of the wrinkly dried skin of the vegetables. "Sorry, but we are here to ask questions."

"Oh okay." The man's disappointed voice made Asuma kind of sad. He put on his glasses.

"Do you know where is the house of Tazuna, the bridge builder?"

The old man was going to reply, when he saw the lead headband on Asuma's forehead."No I don't! Know one here knows about it. Now get out of my shop!"

"Geez, calm down old man, I am leaving." He took one glance at the first of the old man, that was clenched so tightly it was shaking. 'Must be scared of something, but still honest enough to feel bad about lying to me.'

Asuma walked up to his team to update them.

"So sensei, was it fun getting yelled at by that old man?" Ino's grin frustrated Asuma further. "You know sometimes you need a girl's charm to get things done."

"If you want to ask them, then be my guest, prove to your sensei how superior you are."

"I will be back after getting the info."

Ino left with a confident smile towards a store. Shikamaru sat down to take some rest, while Chouji kept munching his chips and spoke, "Sensei, do you think she can do it?"

"Chouji, I have absolute faith in her ability to get yelled at."

Shikamaru leaned on Asuma's leg, "You are a great caring sensei, aren't you."

"You are right my naive student." Asuma moved away from Shikamaru, making him fall to the ground in the process. He walked up to Ino who was heading back from the store. "So how did it go?"

"He told me to go to hell," Ino said facing the ground. "How dare he!"

"Oh my, aren't you some information gatherer."

"I am not done yet! I will just try the next store."

"Good luck then. I will just wait for you with Shikamaru and Chouji."

Nearly 25 minutes later Ino came back to the team. She sat down too, "I can't believe it, 15 stores and no one answers my question."

Asuma got up after laughing loudly at Ino, "Alright team let's get going again. We might get lucky enough to find someone to answer us."

As Ino started walking someone bumped into her.

"Excuse you," said Ino after gaining her balance.

"I am sorry, let me to take you to Tazuna's house." Ino's surprise and suspicion both made sense. Why would a boy who she never met would know what they want in this place. The boy brought his face close to Ino's ear as he whispered, "I am Naruto, I asked one of the villagers for directions in this disguise."

Ino knew not to act like she knew him, but as she took a peek at his face it did resemble Naruto's. A round face, blue eyes, oddly spiky red hair, and faintly present whisker marks across the cheek, it was definitely Naruto.

"Oh thank you, I really appreciate your help." Asuma and the rest of team 10, gratefully followed Naruto and Ino. "Sensei, why are all the villagers so uptight in this place?"

"Your mother would have been angry too if all the flower supplies in your store just stopped coming, and the customers don't buy anything. Although there are people in this market, no one can buy anything other than fish, probably because trade isn't going too well. But as for why they don't like Leaf ninjas I have no clue."

"Wait so you knew that they didn't like us because they saw our headbands?"

"Not exactly, at least not until Naruto came in with the info without any problems. Besides you wouldn't have learned your lesson otherwise Ino."

"If only Kurenai-sensei was here," Ino sighed.

"I wish the same, I wish she was here too." Ino was having a bad day, because Asuma was enjoying the day too much.

Before Ino could come up with a clever reply, Naruto bumped into her once again. "Now what happened Naruto?"

"It wasn't me this time, it was that kid that bumped into me." Naruto said while pointing at a kid right next to him who walked ahead without apologizing or anything.

"Okay Naruto, next time be more observant of your surrounding."

"Yes Ino, I will try." But as soon as Naruto was going to start walking again, his legs felt weirdly free. He couldn't feel the familiar bulge of his pocket on his thigh anymore. Looking back at the kid, Naruto saw his frog wallet full of money in the kid's hand. "Oh crap."

Everyone else understood that the kid was a pickpocket as soon as Naruto said 'Oh Crap'. Naruto ran back a few steps and the pickpocket made a run for it. But in a competition of reaction and speed between a ninja and a civilian, there was no competition at all. Naruto with a single dive caught onto the waist of the pickpocket, who then fell on the floor. Naruto got up from the floor, and he was going to hold the pickpocket in a deadlock like the ones Lee used against him. The pickpocket looked at Naruto, and Naruto stopped midway. As he stared at the boy, the nearly skin protruding skeleton and the large bulging eyes made Naruto shudder. The pickpocket's hands were shaking, and his eyes stared at Naruto with visible fear. 'My hands used to shake like that too when I tried to steal money to buy food. He must be really hungry.' Naruto's grip on the pickpocket's arm loosened, and the boy with Naruto's wallet made a run for it.

"Shadow Binding Jutsu!" Shikamaru weaved the rat seal to activate the jutsu and extend his shadow to bind the boy into rest.

"Let him go." Naruto's voice was distant as he stood in place staring at the back of the boy who was reaching for the corner of the street, where a little girl with dirt filled hair was staring at the pickpocket with tears in her eyes.

Shikamaru let go of the hand sign and jutsu. Ino however was a bit unsatisfied, feeling defeated, "Don't let him go!"

"It's alright Ino." Naruto replied with a sigh.

Ino replied, "No it's not! He just took all your money!"

"He looked really hungry, he needed that money more than me."

"But still he shouldn't be stealing money."

"When you go hungry for days, to the point your bone shows through the skin, it hurts so much that you can't even care about how you get the food." He looked at Ino who seemed to finally accept Naruto's words. "Plus his little sister was hungry too, he probably could have tolerated being hungry for longer, not his sister."

"I never thought of that. I guess you are right. You almost sounded like you starved for days like the boy too."

Asuma suddenly interjected into the conversation, "If Naruto doesn't mind it, I guess so shouldn't we. Besides the kid couldn't even run, guess the food is really necessary."

"You are right sensei," Chouji said while eating, which kind of ruined the mood a little.

"Now let's get going kids." Everyone groaned a little at being called a kid by Asuma as they started walking again.

"Now that I look at it, the people on the streets do seem unhappy and quite famished." Ino looked around at the people as she walked through the marketplace, "There is definitely something wrong with this place."

In a house near the forest, entered a group of ninjas and thugs that were surrounding a short man wearing a suit. One of them guided the short man through the hallway, "Lord Gato, Zabuza Momochi is resting in his room this way."

"Must be pretty tired from being a f*cking loser, couldn't even defeat a group of kids. So much for being some Swordsman of the Mist." Gato spent quite a fortune to hire Zabuza, considering a ninja of his calibre wouldn't offer his services cheaply. Gato opened the door to Zabuza's room, where to his anger Zabuza was lying on a bed with Haku by his side. "Hello there, are you alright?"

"Stop trying to act like you care, just tell me what you wanna say."

"Oh but I do care, because so far my money seems to be wasted in a ninja like you. Wouldn't want you to be dying, I still need results from you." Gato clutched onto his walking stick, as he stared down at the bedridden ninja.

"You will get results. I just need to face them once more."

"What are you going to do next time that's going to help? You couldn't even beat a bunch of kids, and now apparently a ninja named Asuma Sarutobi with a 35 million ryo bounty walked in."

"The one I faced was almost on equal level as most of the seven Swordsman of the mist. I know his weakness, so next time it shouldn't be too troublesome. Also I have a plan to make sure I don't need to fight both Kakashi and Asuma at the same time. This time I will be fully prepared, and I can assure you Tazuna will be dead without doubt."

"I didn't pay so much money just to have you failing my plan. If you don't manage to kill Tazuna, then I myself will make sure to send you and your Missy to the depths of hell, where trash like you belongs."

A moment later, Haku was standing behind the short man, holding a needle at his throat. "Don't think you can insult Zabuza-sama like that, just because you pay us."

"Haku! Come back, we won't get our money if you kill him." Although reluctant, Haku backed away slowly, Zabuza's words were something she wouldn't disobey.

"Pretty brave, but stupid of your girl Zabuza. Missy, this world runs by money. I live for money, and I do everything for money. You too kill for money. But I am different because I have the money to force you to do what I want. Because money rules this world."

"Stop talking too much, if you push me over the edge I might just forget about the money and go for you."

"I'd like you to try, dog." Gato exited the room, and went out of the house, feeling a lot better than before. 'They really aren't worth keeping around for such a cost.'

Team 10 and Naruto in his disguise stood in front of the house that should belong to Tazuna according to the info Naruto had gathered earlier.

"No one seems to be keeping eye on us, I guess you can let go of your disguise Naruto," Asuma walked toward the front door to knock on it. "Is anyone here?"

Naruto formed a hand seal to release his Henge jutsu. The door opened soon after, "Is there any way I can help you?"

"Is this bridgebuilder Tazuna's house , Mam?"

"Oh yes it is," Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, looked at the forehead of Asuma and saw the leaf headband, "Oh you are a ninja from leaf village, right?"

"Before Asuma could answer yes, Kakashi yelled from inside, "Is that you Asuma?"

"Yes I am, is it okay if I come inside?"

"Oh of course it's okay, come in and sit down. I will get some food."

"Thank you so much Mam."

As Asuma and his team walked in, Kakashi waved his hand at them while lying down. "Oh hey Naruto, thought you had a day off today."

"Yeah he did, until he came to train together with us. But more importantly shouldn't you have a bit more shame taking such a beating from some ninjas on hire?"

"Oh cut me some slack, you would have been in a worse condition if you had to fight with one of the seven swordsmen of Mist, Zabuza Momochi."

"Wait a minute, you mean the one who defected from Mist and became rogue?"

"Yup that one. He can fight in heavy mist, plus his blade regenerates from human blood, so you can't even break it."

"That's some handy info. At least you were useful for something Kakashi."

"You should treat wounded patients nicely, or else I will complain to Miss Kurenai." Kakashi grinned under his mask after taking in the sight of Asuma's defeated face.

"So anyone gonna explain what's going on in this place? The Hokage sent us with minimal briefing to save time. But from the looks of it, the poor condition of the markets and business here has some relation to the ninjas that are attacking us, right?" Asuma took out his mission briefing paper to show how few details were present in there. "What's this about Gato or something?"

"You are on the right track Asuma-san. I am Tazuna and I can explain the situation to you."

"Oh it's good to meet you, and please do explain to me the situation."

"This land once used to be the meeting point of multiple trading networks. The sea makes it easy to fish and get salt. However many types of crops don't grow near the salty seas. So trade is one of our necessities. However Gato, knew that to conquer the sea between the land of waves and nearby lands would mean controlling trade across the lands and therefore this land. He, using violence and money, took over the sea and allowed trading only for a high tax. Trade reduced significantly, and our town began wearing down. The only solution is for me to build a bridge from this land to nearby lands, then trade would be much easier. I am almost close to finishing the bridge. To stop me from doing that Gato wants me dead."

"Oh, I see, must be pretty tough then. But I still don't understand why he allowed you to build the bridge for so long." Asuma nodded in agreement with Kakashi.

"The thing is that before Gato came to this land, we were building a bridge, all the foundations were already in place. However when we needed to finish about 35 meters or so of the middle of the bridge, that's when Gato came to this land and stopped us from finishing the bridge. But after that we were working behind him to finish the bridge, and most people couldn't figure out that the bridge was progressing with the thick mist covering it most of the time, until one day some bricks fell down from the bridge onto their boats during a storm."

"Ah, it must suck to have a storm mess it up like that."

"Yes, indeed it does Asuma-san. But as you can see there is no other way around, the people can't go on paying such high taxes to live without food or source of income."

"I guess that means I will have to train my students hard enough so we don't fail you. I can bet they are gonna be more prepared next time they attack us."

"But Kakashi-san, you haven't even healed properly yet! You were badly exhausted earlier."

"Don't worry about me Tazuna-san, I will only be instructing my students about what to do, instead worry about yourself. A lot more depends on you." Tazuna could only nod in response, happiness and determination both shining through his eyes. "Asuma, you stay here with Tazuna-san, don't let him out of your sight."

"Got it Kakashi." Asuma took a cigarette into his mouth. "So what are you training your students? If you can, you could train my team too."

"Well, I was going to teach them to do the tree climbing exercise, their chakra control needs to be improved. And yeah, I will take them to train too."

"Oh alright, just saying two of my students got the tree climbing down already, so teach them water walking. Would definitely come in handy."

"Alright got it."

Just when Kakashi and all the other team members were about to exit, a faint noise came from Asuma's lighter which was fired up with the purpose of lighting the cigarette. "Asuma-san we don't allow smoking in our house."

Asuma had no idea how Tsunami found out someone was going to smoke, but regardless he was disappointed.

"Guess what Ino-pig, I got to go to missions with Sasuke-kun everyday, and he even saved me once." Sakura was already tired from the day so far, but Tazuna's story got everyone's mood ever more damp. So her insides were trembling to have a bit of fun.

"Oh great Billboard brow, so basically you are bragging about being a burden on him."  
"Is that jealousy I hear?"

"I guess Sasuke-kun and your forehead couldn't save your brain that time, or else you wouldn't have trouble understanding."

"Fine be like that." Sakura pouted, her failed attempt to rile up Ino backfired to make her feel even worse. 'This day is such a waste.'

"Yup, I will be like that." Ino replied back, ending the conversation.

"Alright students, today I am going to teach you tree climbing."

"But sensei, we already know how to climb trees!" Sakura and Chouji said that simultaneously.

"Just as I expected you to answer. Yes you know to climb trees with your hands, but you don't know how to do it with chakra. If you can learn how to climb trees using chakra, then your chakra control will improve, precisely because you need a really good chakra control to be able to climb trees like that." Kakashi looked at everyone to make sure they were following. "Now since I can't move, one of the students from Team 10 who knows to climb trees using chakra can show you how it goes. So who wants to do it?"

"I can do it." Ino went ahead next to a tree and started running on its trunk. She slowly and steadily walked up to the branches of the tree, where she stood. "And that's it."

"Good job Ino," Kakashi said clapping his hands, "Once you learn to do that you can also use it in fights. So now to start, take a runup and go as far as you can up the tree and mark your highest spot with the kunai. And while going up the tree, remember to propel chakra out of your feet, it will help you stick to the tree." Kakashi threw a kunai at each student other than Naruto and Ino.

Ino came down to the ground to the place where Naruto and Kakashi were. "So you learned how to do the tree climbing too Naruto?"

"Ah, yes I did, Kakashi sensei taught it."

"Alright Naruto and Ino, come over here near this pond. I am going to show you how to do the water walking exercise. I will only show it once, cause I am not in the best physical condition, so watch carefully." Ino and Naruto nodded in response to Kakashi. Kakashi took a foot step on the water, and as if it was solid ground, his foot didn't sink in. One by one step he kept going in further and further into the pond. "Each step you take, make sure to propel chakra out of your feet just like in the tree climbing exercise. However this time the chakra will be used to force the water under your foot to 'solidify' in a sense, and also will repel the water to keep you floating. Now watch what happens when I use too little chakra." Kakashi reduced his chakra output, and his feet began to sink. "Now watch what happens when I use too much chakra," this time his foot came onto the top of water, however the violent waves and ripples generated under his leg started to shake his balance and forced his into the water. Then he stabilized his chakra output, and walked back to land. "Alright, I guess you two should be able to figure out how to do this exercise from this point on."

"Alright sensei," said both Ino and Naruto in unison.

"Oh by the way Naruto, try to behave yourself, don't get too excited." Kakashi took out his orange novel and started reading, as he headed towards the students learning tree climbing.

"So Naruto you want to go first?" Ino asked, hoping Naruto would take the experimental jump into the water.

"No fair, why don't you go in?"

"I asked first, so you should go in!"

"How about we go in at the same time." Ino was pretty comfortable with this proposal, so they both lined up near the pond. And with a countdown they were to jump in. As soon as the count to three was done, Ino walked into the water, placing her front foot into it, but her chakra wasn't to keep her floating, as she headed straight into the water, splashing water all over herself. "The water looks too scary Ino. I can't go in."

Ino brought her head out of the water, shivering in cold, and in anger as she looked at Naruto shaking on the ground. "Oh you just made the biggest mistake of your life!" Ino grabbed Naruto's feet by the ankles, and pulled him into the water. Naruto shivered in cold as well, he never liked the cold. "So you were just planning on watching me get wet in the water didn't you , you little perv! Is that what Kakashi sensei taught you!"

Naruto kept taking the splashes of water to his face, as he thought to himself, 'This is going to be a long day.'

****** Author's note******

This chapter doesn't include much action, but only build up. Next two chapters will get fully into the action. And i will update them on a faster basis i promise, hopefully, at least for this arc.


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